


Of Monsters and Men

by burningcas



Category: shingeki no kyojin (attack on titan)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Fluff, Hanji ships it, Hurt/Comfort, I'll add more tags as the story progresses, Levi is kind of an asshole in the beginning, M/M, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, another 'wtf is eren' fic, but what can ya do, eren gets sassy, erwin loses his cool sometimes, kinda based on supernatural, levi acts like he doesn't like eren but in reality would bang him like a screen door in a hurricane, levi is a hunter, levi is french, levi is shit at comforting people, protective!Levi, rating may go up in future chapters, so much of it, supernatural themes, this is an extremely angsty fic just sayin, wow so original
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:12:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 52,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4031386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burningcas/pseuds/burningcas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren's life is quickly turned upside down one fateful night where he is attacked by a supernatural creature. He is soon pulled into the world of hunters and monsters when he is saved by Levi, a hunter. Eren goes under Levi's wing.</p>
<p>Levi never thought that a job that should've been a quick get-in-get-out situation could have flipped everything he thought he knew about the world. And it all started when he first looked into those scared, green eyes.</p>
<p>//discontinued//</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

What college student, Eren Jaeger, expected from going to the campus library after hours was to just finish up an English paper. What he did not expect was to be torn from his seat and slammed into a nearby book shelf. It happened so quickly that Eren thought he had imagined it. But that thought was almost immediately squashed when he looked up from the floor where he laid in a crumpled heap and saw a tall figure looming over him.

Eren could only make out two shimmering silver eyes from the otherwise dark figure, it’s shoulders heaving up and down as it seemed to be panting heavily. Before Eren could make a move to attempt to get up from the floor, the figure was right over him, straddling his legs, it’s hands digging into Eren’s shoulders, keeping him nailed to the floor.

At this point, Eren could make out the figure’s face. It was a, seemingly, human male, with all the features you’d expect from a guy. But the long, saber-like teeth protruding from the guy’s gums were a surprise.

Eren squirmed under the attacker’s grip, trying to push and claw him off of him. This only increased the pressure of the guy’s hold on Eren, to a point where it felt like he was slowly breaking Eren’s bones.

The attacker leaned close into Eren’s face, his gleaming eyes never leaving Eren’s. He brought his face down to Eren’s neck. He could feel the guy’s cold breath on his neck until the attacker inhaled deeply, shoving his nose right against Eren’s neck.

Eren tried to form words, but the air was knocked out of his lungs from being thrown against the solid wall of wood. He wriggled fiercely, fear starting to really kick in, urging Eren into a fight or flight mode. The attacker opened his mouth, and Eren could feel his fangs poking his sensitive skin.

Before Eren could finally cry out for help, the attacker was flung off of Eren. Eren sucked in a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The guy quickly got his bearings again, attention off of Eren and to the new assailant right on the other side of Eren.

The new guy was holding a thick encyclopedia. He didn’t hesitate once as he reached around to a holster on his side, unsheathing a rather large machete. 

Eren began to slide backwards, as far as his shaking limbs would take him, until his back met a nearby wall. He was silent as he watched the two size each other up before the attacker hissed and lunged at Eren’s savior.

The man simply swung on his heel, sending the attacker sailing into a table. Without missing a beat, the man took the butt of his machete and swung it, hard, against the attacker’s face when he once again turned to him. The attacker let out an almost inhuman growl as he flared his fangs at the armed man. 

But before the creature could make another move, the man grabbed his machete with two hands and swung the blade at the man.  
Eren watched, mouth agape, as the creature faltered before it’s head slid evenly off of it’s shoulders. Almost in slow motion, the rest of the body slumped to it’s knees before falling into a heap of blood at the man’s feet.

The man ‘tch’ed and took out a black bandana, wiping his machete clean of left over blood. Eren’s gaze slowly left the body on the floor and to the man standing over it. He sheathed his blade and made a move to step over the body as if it wasn’t a big deal that he had literally just cut the guy’s head off.

As the man walked closer to him, Eren began panicking again, squishing himself against the wall in an attempt to put as much space between him and the man.

Sensing the boy’s fear, the man put his hands up in what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. He stopped a few steps away from Eren.  
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” The man’s voice was deep and even, his grey eyes never leaving Eren’s green ones. Eren stopped trying to merge with the wall and looked back with wary eyes, his breath still shaky and uneven. “Look, you’re hurt; just let me see if the guy did any bad damage.”

As if almost on cue, a sharp pain resonated through Eren’s back and shoulders. The top of his shirt felt damp and heavy, and stuck painfully to the deep claw marks that raked Eren’s shoulders. He raised a hand to his neck and winced as his hands brushed over the bruised skin.

The man took this as an opportunity to take a few more steps closer until he was within arm’s reach of the boy. Slowly, as to not raise alarm, the man crouched down to Eren’s level, maintaining eye contact with the boy the entire time.

Eren’s breathing was quieter as the man took his hand and moved it to where Eren’s had been just recently. His touch was gentle, just a ghost of a touch. He moved his hand further along Eren’s bruised neck, almost like he was looking for something in particular. 

After his initial examination of the injured boy, the man withdrew his hand. 

“Can you stand?” The man asked with his even voice. Eren didn’t trust his voice at that moment, so he merely nodded his head, and made a move to stand, using the wall as a support. The man stood up along with him. Now that Eren was standing up, he was surprised at how short the mystery man was; the top of his head almost reached Eren’s eyes, but not quite.

After another quick observation of the man in front of him, Eren pushed off of the wall and put all of his weight on his two shaky legs. The man was now looking ahead of them towards the door on the other side of the library. All was seemingly going fine, Eren even took a few steps on his own, following the man in front of him. But of course, he had to look down.

Two, lifeless eyes looked back up at Eren, their silver irises no longer gleaming like a cat’s. As Eren realized he was, in fact, looking at the severed head of his assailant, his vision began to get blurry until it just faded into black all together.


	2. Chapter Two

When Eren finally came to, the first thing that he noticed was the dull ache in his head and shoulders. He groaned as he shifted slightly, rolling closer to the wall on his left. Eren opened his eyes as well as he could with a pounding headache. It was still night out, so he hadn’t been out for long. 

After his vision became less blurry and more in focus, he realized he was laying in the backseat of a car, the door at his feet open. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” The familiar voice broke through Eren’s hazy thoughts. He only grunted in response. The man’s shadow fell in front of the car door opening. “Can you sit up?”

Eren inhaled deeply before slowly pushing himself up on one elbow, wincing when he felt fabric rub against the deep wounds on his shoulders. He looked up and saw the man flick a cigarette to the ground, snuffing it out with his boot. The man now wore a jacket that was as black as his hair, and his holster seemingly gone. The man’s attention was now on Eren.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” The man’s voice interrupted Eren’s staring. “Come on, sit up.” He reached over and helped Eren into a slumped sitting position. The man pulled out a case from under the back seat before crouching down, still outside of the car.

“Who are you?” Eren asked after a few moments of silence with a slightly hoarse voice. The man didn’t look up from the case he was now currently digging through.

“My name’s not important,” was all he responded with. Finally finding all the things he was looking for, he placed the objects on the seat next to Eren’s folded legs and placed the open case on the floor.

He made a move to one of Eren’s shoulders, but was stopped short when a hand shot over and grabbed his wrist. A look of surprise flashed over the man’s usual indifferent look until his face trained itself back into it’s usual mask. He slightly quirked one of his eyebrows, his grey eyes shooting arrows into Eren’s. Eren stubbornly stared back, his green eyes swimming with defiance. 

So this is how it’s gonna be, huh?

The man’s free hand shot out at Eren’s hand that was holding his wrist, and quickly dug his thumb knuckle into the top of the boy’s hand, effectively making him release the grip on his wrist.

The boy let out a silent grimace as he tore his hand from the man’s grip. 

“Ow! What the hell!” Eren held his hand close to him as he glared at the man, whose expression remained it’s usual stoic-ness. 

“Listen, kid, I’m trying to help you here.” His voice was no longer the even, comforting tone it was when he had first spoken to Eren. “So this’ll go by a whole lot smoother if you’d just let me.”

Eren huffed through his nose. The man took that as a silent agreement and went back to what he was trying to do before he was interrupted. His fingers hooked along the neckline of Eren’s shirt, gently peeling it off of his sticky skin. Eren winced and squished his eyes close in and attempt to hold back the sounds of pain. 

The man lowered it until Eren’s whole shoulder was exposed. Four, long, gashes raked along the top and back of the boy’s shoulders. Blood began to dry along the wounds and some was smeared up the boy’s neck. 

Eren watched as the man took a rag that rested on the seat amongst other things and took a dark bottle of liquid before pouring some onto the rag.

“Hey, what is tha-“ Eren was cut off by a burning pain as the wet rag was placed onto his wounds. He cursed and dug his nails into the leather seats as the rag was finally taken off of him. He turned to look at the man, who was preoccupied with wringing out the dirty rag, his eyes burning a furious shade of green. He scoffed as he rolled his cleaned shoulder.

The man took no notice of Eren’s sudden outburst and continued his work on patching up the boy. He took a bandage roll next and began to unravel it a bit before Eren spoke up again.

“I’m Eren.” The boy was met with silence. He sighed and directed his attention behind the crouching man in front of him. The car was parked in the back of the campus library, a single streetlight illuminating the building and few parking spaces around them. 

Eren felt a light touch on his arm as it was brought up gently to rest on the backrest of the seat as the man wove the bandages around Eren’s wounds.

The boy began to space out, but was brought back by the sound of the man cursing under his breath. His usually, small pupils seemed to enlarge almost comically. Eren would’ve found it funny if not for the look of disbelief and slight fear that etched it’s way onto the man’s face. 

His gaze was latched onto a certain spot on Eren’s neck. But before Eren could get a look at was so fascinating, a hand shot out from the man and gripped Eren’s chin tugging it in the opposite direction. His other hand made a move to examine the area of interest, his fingers once again ghosting around the area.

Eren began to protest, but was cut short when the man’s hand brushed over a certain spot on his neck which had him yelp from the sudden, intense pain. The grip on his chin vanished and Eren turned to look back at the man, the emotion that was there before was once again gone.

The man’s grey eyes shot up to Eren’s. 

“Sorry ‘bout this,” the man stated.

“Sorry about wha-“ Eren was shut up by an elbow flying into his face, effectively knocking him out once again.


	3. Chapter Three

The second time Eren woke up, he was sitting up. He had a crick in his neck from where it rested awkwardly on his shoulder, and his wrists and ankles were bound to the chair he sat in. He groaned as his eyes were assaulted with a harsh light that hung right above him.

Blinking the blurriness from his eyes he started to remember what had happened. The sharp ache in his head and, from what Eren could guess, the tender bruise on his jaw reminded him of the mystery man and his sudden attitude change. 

Eren raised his head. He saw mostly a dark lit room in front of him with a few silhouettes of people standing in the shadows. His hands curled into fists, his wrists straining against the bounds. He was not going to fall victim again. 

A sudden squeal from one of the shadowy figures made Eren freeze for a split second before it began to speak.

“Aww, Levi, you didn’t tell me he was such a cutie!” Eren could tell this voice was female, and a very, very, excited one at that. The source of the sound began to walk into the light and Eren got a good look at one of his “captors”.

The woman had brown hair that was pulled up in a hastily made ponytail, her long bangs falling around her face and her glasses. Her doe-like brown eyes seemed to be examining Eren even at the distance from where she stood. She wore a pair of well-worn jeans and a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

The woman came a few steps closer, straightening her back and let a smile that stretched from ear to ear etch it’s way onto her face. 

“Howdy!” She greeted with a loud, boisterous voice, “I’m Hanji!” She did a little wave since Eren’s hands were bound.

Eren looked at her in confusion before he narrowed his eyes and drew his eyebrows together and clenched his jaw as he eyed the female warily. She seemed to find this amusing, since she threw her head back and barked out a laugh.

“I can see why you took a liking to him, ay Levi?” she directed her question to the shortest of the two remaining shadows. He heard the figure ‘tch’ and shuffled slightly. 

The tallest shadow came into view at that moment. Eren’s view trailed up the tall stature of the man, before landing on two blue eyes that watched him, almost calculative. The man had blonde hair that was styled back. He had thick eyebrows that seemed to always be drawn in a thinking position. His face a seemed to be chiseled with high cheekbones and a jawline that looked like it could cut a hand if he was slapped. 

Eren identified the man with the nickname Captain America. It only seemed fit. 

“That’s enough, Hanji, we don’t want to scare the boy too bad.” Captain America said with a baritone voice and placed a hand on Hanji’s shoulder.

“I think it’s too late for that,” An eerily familiar voice responded. The remaining figure stepped into view. The man that had saved him not five hours ago stood there, watching Eren with his classic bored expression, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Eren’s head tilted to the side as he absorbed this new information. Fear started to creep up around Eren as he remembered what the man was capable of, and that Eren was completely vulnerable.

“Relax, brat, we’re not gonna hurt you.” He said after almost immediately picking up on Eren’s distress. Damn, he was good at that.

“Exactly,” the woman said, “We just have a few questions. No biggy.” She turned around and swung a chair in front of her, placing it so she sat with her front resting against the back of the chair. She hugged the back and tapped her fingers together, analyzing Eren once again.

“Then is it completely necessary for me to be tied down?” Eren shot back, raising an eyebrow at Hanji. She slightly giggled before regaining her composure. 

“Of course not, that was only precautionary.” Hanji replied before nodding towards Eren while looking at the shorter of the two standing. 

Levi, if Eren could remember correctly, stalked over, uncrossing his arms, and stopped in front of Eren. He took a small key that was held tightly in his hand and put it in the lock that held the metal shackle around one of Eren’s wrists. Eren only glanced up at Levi once before directing his view on the floor in front of him.

After Eren’s hands were unbound, he rubbed at his red wrists. Eren noticed his ankles were still bound before shooting a questioning glance at Hanji.

“Once again, only precautionary.” She answered with a small smile. Eren sighed inwardly, knowing that this was all he was going to get throughout this interrogation. 

“So,” Hanji began, threading her fingers together, watching Eren with a careful eye, “What do you remember about tonight?”

Eren seemed to be a bit confused at her question. How could he forget being attacked by some fanged freak in an empty library, and then saved by a man that seemed to have an endless amount of personas? 

“Pretty much everything,” he responded simply. She nodded, seemingly like she was taking mental notes.

“So you remember being attacked, then?”

“Of course.”

“Do you know what attacked you?” she asked.

Of course Eren didn’t know what attacked him, he had, at first, assumed it was just some psycho guy that decided to randomly attack the nearest person he could find, which just happened to be Eren.  
“I figured it was just a guy.” Eren said, leaning back in the wooden chair.

“Well,” Hanji trailed off, looking to Captain America for some kind of assistance. 

But before he could speak, Levi beat him to it.

“You were attacked by a vampire, kid.”

Eren looked blankly at the short male, eyebrows slightly quirking together. It was silent throughout the room. But the silence was cut abruptly short as Eren began laughing.

He covered his face with his hands, his bubbling laughter bouncing off of the cement walls. After he got it out of his system, he sighed and wiped a few tears out of his eyes. 

“Yeah, right.” He said, chuckling a bit. He heard Levi sigh heavily. “And next, you’re gonna tell me that dragons exist.”

“Well, actually they do.” Hanji added in quickly. Eren looked at her, trying to see if he could tell if she as lying in any way. In fact, all of them had somberly serious faces, and all of their attention was on Eren.

Eren sniffled. “You’re serious?”

“Like a heart attack.” Levi replied.  
“And it seems that you were bitten, Eren.” Hanji added in, her voice no longer her usually happy tone, and her face was focused. It made her intimidating.

As soon as those words sunk in, Eren’s face paled. His hands shot up to his neck, and he winced when one of them landed on that one spot on the left side of his neck. Levi flinched towards Eren when he let out a pained whine, but quickly drew himself back to his original stance.

“D-does that mean..” Eren trailed off, looking at Hanji with big eyes, his hand not leaving the hurt spot.

“Well, see, that’s the thing.” Hanji’s hands unfurled from each other, becoming more animated as she explained. “Usually, by now, you would’ve already turned. And from what Levi told us, the bite wasn’t visible until a while after the initial attack.”

Eren looked back at Levi and swallowed thickly. The man’s face was his usual expression, but there was concern in his eyes as he watched Eren’s reactions. The boy looked down before drawing his eyebrows together. 

“So, what does that mean?” Eren asked hesitantly when he looked back at the woman.

Hanji’s back straightened and she fixed her glasses before responding. “That’s what we were hoping to figure out.”

“See, there’s two possibilities,” Captain America finally spoke, taking a step closer to Eren, his icy blue gaze latching onto Eren’s. “Either the vamp didn’t bite you deep enough, or,” his voice lowered, “You’re not human.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun duun. Yay cliffhangers.  
> Anywho, I hope the story is interesting so far, I plan to make this a long fic.


	4. Chapter Four

Eren’s breath hitched in his throat and he swallowed again. 

“What do you mean, not human?” he asked with a slight shake in his voice.

“Meaning,” the blonde continued, “you are somehow not affected by the vamp’s bite. So you can’t be human, or not completely.” He finished crossing his arms against his broad chest.

Eren let out a nervous chuckle. “Of course I’m human, that’s ridiculous.” He said; panic slowly starting to take hold again. These people were serious, and after seeing what Levi did to the previous vampire, Eren really hoped his own words were true.

Eren found himself looking to Levi, for what, Eren didn’t know, but he was the one Eren had known the longest out of the trio. 

Levi raised his chin slightly as those giant, teal eyes looked at him with unmistakable fear. There was nothing that Levi could’ve done at that moment, because even he wasn’t sure if the boy was human or not. He was extremely hoping for the former.

“But we don’t know for sure,” the blonde continued, “which is why we’re going to have to keep you here for a while. Just to be sure.”

If Eren wasn’t panicking before, he sure as hell was then.

“Wha- you mean keep me down here?” he said, his hands gripping the armrests with an almost splintering force. He watched the man, his mouth open in disbelief. This was considered kidnapping, right?

“Only for a day or so. Hanji will be keeping tabs on if you have any signs of turning or not.”

Eren’s blood ran cold. “And what if I do?” he said lowly, his eyes staring challengingly back at the blonde.

His jaw clenched before he answered after a few moments of silence. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Hanji inhaled loudly before clapping her hands together. “Well, enough of that,” She got up from her chair, and nodding to the blonde. “Erwin, could you go grab a cot for our guest, please?” she said. He nodded back silently and left through the door on the other side of the wall. She started heading out after him before turning to Levi. “And you get him situated, mkay?” she asked, flashing a two thumbs up before shuffling out of the room.

Levi huffed after the woman and turned back to the boy sitting still bound to the chair. Eren was staring emotionlessly at the floor in front of his feet. He stalked over to Eren before crouching in front of him, unlocking the bound on one of his ankles. 

What could Levi say at this moment? He was shit at comforting people to begin with, and everything that he could say would be complete bullshit anyways. He didn’t want to lie to the kid and tell him that it was probably nothing, and he had nothing to worry about. 

Levi glanced up into Eren’s eyes. They were usually filled with a kind of fire that rekindled old memories of Levi’s, but now they were almost dead. They seemed to have a kind of haze over them as the boy fully understood his predicament. It tugged at something in Levi, something that he had never really felt before.

And as soon as he freed Eren from the chair, Levi swore he would do everything in his power to never let that fire be extinguished again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is short, but I uploaded twice in on day, so I hope that makes up for it.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Levi tries his hand in being "comforting"

About an hour later, Eren found himself lying on a rollout cot, staring at the ceiling. Levi left as soon as Erwin arrived. Eren didn’t blame the man, Eren was probably a monster. No one would want to stay around that.

Eren couldn’t help but replaying Erwin’s words over and over in his mind. If Eren was bitten and hadn’t changed by now without turning, like Hanji said, what was he? How long had he been like this? 

Eren’s head began to hurt with doubt and fear. He sat up, rubbing his tired eyes. Eren drew his hands back when he discovered he had been crying. If he wasn’t so dead already he probably would’ve laughed at himself.

The boy’s train of thought was interrupted as he heard the door open and the wall of shelves opened to unveil Levi walking into Eren’s holding cell. He had a plate of food in his hand.

Eren quickly rubbed his eyes, hoping that is wasn’t obvious that he had been crying. The look that Levi gave him told Eren that he had failed at that too.

Eren watched the man approach him before handing the plate of food to Eren and grabbing a chair and sitting down, a few paces away from Eren. He crossed an ankle over his leg, his arms crossed as he watched the boy.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” The boy said in a scratchy voice. Levi smirked as he remembered he had said those same words to the boy earlier that night.

Eren’s gaze focused back on his food as he ate. Levi drew his eyebrows together. It was obvious that Eren had already given up. Levi clenched his jaw. 

“Listen kid,” Levi said after a few moments of silence. Eren looked up at him and Levi inhaled deeply. “No one knows what’s gonna happen, alright?” The boy was silent and after a while Levi continued. “You just got to believe that everything will turn out okay.” He paused, looking Eren in the eyes, seeing if the boy understood where he was going with this. “You can’t just give up at the first bump in the road. Okay? Because as long as you still have hope you’re still you. You’re still human.”

Eren was silent after Levi said the last part, his eyes becoming glassy.

“And it’s okay to feel like shit at times. And it’s okay to be kicked down.” Levi uncrossed his ankle and arms, leaning forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. “But it’s up to you if you’re going to get back up again.” Levi’s grey eyes watched unwaveringly at Eren when the boy’s gaze was directed to the floor again. Eren blinked slowly before meeting his stare again.

Eren’s teal eyes shown with their usual fire, the haze completely gone. The boy nodded slightly, and Levi returned the gesture.

Levi got up from his chair and made to leave but stopped when the boy began to speak.

“Thank you. Levi.” He almost whispered after the man. Levi stopped but didn’t look back, and exited the room.

-+-

Eren woke to the sound of the heavy shelves being moved as someone walked in. He grumbled groggily, looking over his shoulder to see bouncing figure of Hanji enter his cell.

“Gooood morning sunshine!” she said, almost skipping over to Eren. The boy sat up, yawning, and popping a few cricks out of his back. “And how are we this morning?” she asked as she set down a leather briefcase she was carrying on the floor next to the chair Levi had used the night before.

“Fine, I guess.” Eren mumbled. Hanji hummed in response and sat in the chair, taking some gloves from the case. She motioned for Eren to come closer, and he did by scooting a bit until she could examine him easier. She turned Eren’s head to the right, checking Eren’s bite wound.

Hanji almost seemed to freeze. She slid her hand over the area, but Eren didn’t feel the pain he did the night before. Hanji let go of his face and lifted the wrappings around Eren’s shoulder, her face taking on a serious mask.

Without missing a beat, she turned to her case and pulled out a needle and syringe, expertly fixing the two together.   
“Er- Watchya doing?” Eren said nervously, leaning back from the woman.

She turned back to him. “I just need a small blood sample.” She responded simply without looking him in the eye. She grabbed Eren’s arm and quickly found a vein. She stuck the needle into Eren’s arm, slowly drawing his blood. 

After she got what she felt was enough, she handed him a small cloth to hold to his arm while it bled a bit.

Hanji dug into her bag a little bit more, securing the sample in a container and pulling out a spoon.

“Hold this for me.” She held it out to him. 

Eren’s eyebrow quirked up and looked at the woman with a confused expression, but took hold of the spoon anyway. He grabbed the silverware for her and waited for more instructions.

Hanji watched closely at the hand that held the spoon, but after a few moments of nothing happening, she snatched it back from him. “Thank you.” 

The brunette placed the spoon back in her case and dug around a moment again. “Hold out your hand.” 

When Eren did, she took out a container of salt and hastily poured some into the palm of his hand. Once again she watched the hand like she expected something big to happen. But after nothing did, she shook Eren’s hand clean again.

The boy looked at her like she was crazy, asking him to hold things and coughing strange words to see if she could get a reaction from him. After nothing seemed to affect Eren, she packed her things back up and took off her gloves.

“Well, I’m going to go examine that sample, ‘kay?” Hanji said walking backwards to the door. Eren nodded in response and she smiled, locking him back in the cell by moving the shelves in place. He sighed when he heard the door on the other side open and close again.

He rolled his neck before he remembered the woman’s reaction to Eren’s neck earlier. Carefully, Eren slid his shirt off his shoulder and lifted the slightly bloody bandage on his shoulder. His face visibly paled when he saw what was underneath.

Where there used to be deep, craggy gashes on his shoulder, was smooth, untouched skin. Not a blemish was to be seen, and there was no evidence that he had ever been hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't update yesterday but omg all of your guy's comments make my day, and I'm glad you all have found this interesting so far! ^^


	6. Chapter Six

Eren checked his shoulders many times over, in hopes that they were still injured. 

There wasn’t a single indication that the encounter with the vampire ever happened. There wasn’t even a scar. In a moment of confusion, Eren looked down at his arm where Hanji had drawn blood no too long ago. 

Just like with his other injuries, there was no evidence that the skin had ever been broken. He rubbed his arm, even clawed at it, wishing that it was just a trick of the lighting. 

Eren inhaled and exhaled shakily, running a hand through his brown hair. 

There was no way he could be human, Eren thought, but then what was he?

Eren’s train of thought was cut off by the sounds of the door and shelves opening. Erwin’s broad figure walked in, his eyes trained warily on Eren. He had a thigh holster that held a thick bladed knife and Eren could see the bump of a gun that was tucked away in the waistband of Erwin’s jeans.

Without hesitation, the blond walked over to Eren, roughly grabbing his arms and hoisting the boy to his feet. Eren made a noise of protest before he was dragged back to the wooden chair in the middle of the floor. He was plopped down. Eren didn’t have a chance to ask what was going on until the metal cuffs were clanked shut on Eren’s wrists once more. 

The boy struggled against them, his eyes darting from the bounds and to Erwin. The blond had a blank look on his face, his eyes showing an indecipherable emotion.

The man leaned away from the struggling boy before the rest of the trio walked into room. Hanji’s glasses were perched on the top of her head, her eyebrows scrunched together. Levi followed closely behind her, the raven not looking at Eren.

“Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?” Eren angrily asked. He was tired of not knowing anything, and he wanted answers. Now.

The woman stopped in front of the sitting boy, her arms crossed behind her back. “Eren, as I’m sure that you’ve noticed, there is something off about you.” The boy scoffed at the obvious and she continued. “Tell us what you are.”

Eren groaned, slightly rolling his eyes. He was done with trying to work with these people, and was quickly getting agitated at the questions he had no answers to.

“I already told you, I’m human.” The brunet barked back, his eyes portraying every bit of annoyance that he felt.

“Well obviously, you’re not. So for the sake of yourself, I recommend you start telling us the truth.” Erwin spoke up, his voice low with underlying threats. The hair on the back of Eren’s neck stood up as the tall man came closer.

“I am telling the truth!” he yelled. He was not going anywhere with these people, and they were going nowhere with him. “I was born human, and I am human.” Eren clenched his jaw in defiance at the tall man in front of him.

He was about to let out another retort, but his head was jerked to the side and the side of his face stung. Erwin was closer now, his hand curling into another fist. 

“Erwin!” Levi growled. He was standing off to the side, but reached over, grabbing the other man’s wrist with a bruising grip. His eyes burned with a fury that made even Eren want to cower, but the blond seemed unaffected by the fellow hunter’s death glare and exhaled sharply, pulling his wrist back to his side once more. 

Eren turned back around to face the three head on again, his cheek and jaw throbbing. His fingers curled into the wooden armrests.

Hanji’s gaze was directed at the floor during the whole exchange between the two males, but then blinked back up to Eren. “I analyzed the sample that I took earlier today,” she shifted on one foot and took Eren’s silence as a sign to continue, “There were certain antibodies that are not present in human blood cells. And taking into account your remarkable ability to heal, I have to theorize that you have certain genes that are not all the way.. human.” She hesitated at the last word, watching Eren’s reaction as she spoke.

Eren’s breathing had become even again and the bruise on his face was already fading, just proving what Hanji had said.

“So, what, are you going to kill me?” he looked to the woman again.

“No. Not yet at least. You seem to be no threat to others in terms of supernatural ability. But that doesn’t mean we can let you go.” She folded her hands in front of her as she spoke.

Eren huffed. “What, so you’re just going to keep me here until I rot? There will be people looking for me, you know, they’ve probably already noticed I’m gone.”

“Ah, well, you see,” Hanji raised a finger while explaining, “Levi over here has made the proposition that you and your… powers, would be beneficial to us. We’ll teach you a few tricks of our trade.” The woman pulled her glasses back down over her eyes, a small smile on her face.

Eren slowly looked to the raven who was now looking at the boy.

“And until we are 100% sure of what you are, you will be under watch by one of us. Just until we can assure that you aren’t a threat.” Hanji hastily added in the last part when Eren shot her an annoyed look. 

After a few moments of silence, Eren sighed out a half-hearted “fine” and Erwin came over to unlock Eren from the chair. Once his wrists were free once more, Hanji motioned for him to follow as she smiled and headed out of the holding room.

He watched Erwin out of the corner of his eye warily as the blond walked out before him. Levi was close behind as the four reached the door, which Hanji promptly opened.

Outside the room was a hallway. It had concrete walls with a couple doors on the opposite wall. Old lights lit up the hallway and throughout the building. Hanji continued to lead him down the hallway before she came to an archway in the wall.

The ceiling was high in this new room. A large staircase was on the side of the wall leading up to a metal door close to the ceiling. A few bookcases sat against different walls and by a few doors. In the middle of the room was what seemed to be a large map. It was built into the table, and had a few different colored buttons and lights around the gridded map. 

To the right was a wide opening to another large room. This room was longer than the one the four was in currently. It had a long table straight down the middle with several bookshelves along and turning away from the walls.

“Welcome to the bunker,” Hanji made a grand gesture with her arms before turning to the boy. “Make yourself at home, the kitchen is just around the bend, and Levi will show you to a room you can use.” She winked at the raven who just rolled his eyes in response.

Eren looked back at the man who nodded his head down the hallway they had just come from. Eren took this as a signal to follow as the raven started walking away. The walk was comfortably quiet; the only sound was Levi’s boots on the tile floor. The man stopped near a door, opening it after Eren had come to a stop next to him.

The man reached over and flicked on the light switch. The room had a bed that sat in the middle of the floor, a small bedside table on either side of the bed. It was roomy, significantly bigger than the dungeon he was held in the night before. Eren walked in, getting his bearings.

“My room’s just down the hall,” Levi’s voice broke the silence, “Just holler if you need me.” The man made a move to leave the boy but stopped when Eren spoke.

“Why did you do that?” The brunet spun on his heel to face Levi in the doorway.

Levi’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Do what?”

“You know, vouch for me.”

Levi straightened his back and looked at the big, teal eyes that were waiting for an answer.

“Because I’ve seen monsters, Eren. And you’re not one.”

Levi grabbed the door knob and closed it, leaving a stunned Eren alone in the room.

That was the first time Levi had called Eren by his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want a much better visual of the bunker, just look up the bunker from supernatural because I'm just so original.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eren learns a bit more about hunters and Levi gets jealous.

Levi sighed through his nose when he closed the door. Running a hand through his hair, he turned away from the boy’s room and headed to the main room of the bunker. Erwin was sitting in one of the chairs at the long table on his laptop and Hanji just came in from the kitchen, eating a sandwich.

 

               Hanji perked her eyebrows as she took another bite as a silent greeting to the raven as he slumped down the few steps into the room.

 

               “Levi, just in time.” The brunette mumbled around a full mouth, which Levi promptly grimaced at. The woman walked over to where Erwin sat. There were a few books scattered around the blond as he typed away furiously at the keyboard, glancing at a book or two. Erwin tapped a pen on the table rapidly a few times before placing it between his teeth as he drew his thick eyebrows together in concentration.

 

               “You look like you’re about to shit yourself, Erwin,” the raven quipped, “What’s so interesting?”

 

               “We’re looking through the archives to see if we can get a sense on what Eren is.” Hanji replied, finishing her sandwich and wiping the crumbs on her jeans. “Just checking through different lore and all that good stuff.”

 

               Levi ‘hmmf’ed and pulled out a seat by the two. “What do you got so far?” Levi rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward.

 

               Erwin seemed to recognize the raven’s presence and took the pen from his teeth. “Nothing set in stone yet,” he said, his eyes still on the screen, “but there are a few things that match to what we know so far.”

 

               “And?” Levi impatiently prodded.

 

               “Mostly your basic things; shape shifter, werewolf, demon.” The blond added in the last thing quietly.

 

               Levi huffed almost amused. “Yeah, because Bright Eyes in there is a demon.” He scoffed and leaned back, crossing his arms against his chest.

 

               “And it’s not possible he’s a shape shifter,” Hanji added, “I had him hold the silver spoon and he wasn’t affected at all. Or the salt.”

 

               “We _have_ encountered demons who could withstand salt for a short period of time, Hanji.” Erwin replied, turning in his chair to the two others. Hanji took this into consideration, chewing on her lip as she thought.

 

               “Come on guys, you don’t really think the kid’s possessed?” Levi’s thin eyebrows raised in slight disbelief. “If he was a demon, why couldn’t he have just taken care of the vamp himself? Trust me I was there, that kid would be dead if I hadn’t shown up.”

 

               Erwin groaned, rubbing his hands on his face. “I don’t know, Levi, do you have any bright ideas?” His blue eyes trained on the man sitting by him.

 

               “Maybe he’s something we haven’t dealt with before?” Hanji murmured, staring into space as she continued to chew lip bottom lip in thought. “I mean, that is a very big possibility, and since Eren has as much of a clue as us, maybe we could observe him. Experiment.” A devilish gleam passed over her brown eyes at the thought.

              

               “Hanji, you are not going to use him as one of your lab rats.” Levi quickly shot down the brunette. She groaned in protest.

 

               “Whatever he is, we need to find out soon, before he actually does go haywire.” Erwin said, and was quickly followed by a shuffle of feet at the archway. All three hunters instinctively went to the guns they had holstered on them, but stopped when they all saw the timid shape of Eren peek around the corner.

 

               His brown dark brown hair was messy, his shoulders a bit slumped. It was evident that the sudden movements by the trio made him freeze momentarily. His teal eyes darted back and forth at the trio that watched him walk into the large room.

 

               “Just getting something to eat,” Eren mumbled, it was almost inaudible. Hanji shot him a smile as he breezed past the three into the secluded room.

 

               “Yeah, that’s our big, bad monster.” Levi retorted as the boy was out of sight. Hanji only giggled in return.

 

-+-

 

               Eren was digging around through the metal refrigerator when he heard steps in the doorway behind him. He spun his head around and was met with the appearance of Levi. Eren retreated from the fridge.

 

               Levi went in after him, grabbing a beer from the fridge, easily uncapping the bottle, and took a drink. The man rested his back against the counter, observing the boy.

 

               Eren kept glancing at Levi and the bottle. “Want one?” the raven asked.

 

               “Sure.” Levi went over and grabbed another one from the fridge. He made a move to hand it to Eren, but stopped rather abruptly.

 

               “You’re 21, right?” He asked in a teasing tone of voice.

 

               “I’m 23, asshole.” Eren huffed before snatching the beer from Levi’s hands. The raven smirked behind the bottle before he took a sip. There were a few moments of comfortable silence before the brunet spoke again.

 

               “I really am going to have to go home soon.” The boy was looking at the bottle in his hands like it was the most fascinating thing at the moment. “If I’m going to have to stay with you guys, I’m going to have to settle a few things.” Eren finally looked up at Levi.

 

               The two were leaning on opposite counters a few paces away from each other. Levi looked down and took another sip before nodding.

 

               “I’ll take you in the morning to get some of your stuff.” Levi sniffled before looking up at Eren again. “Do what you need to get situated, alright?”

 

               The boy nodded once, smiling a small smile.

 

               “Thank you, Levi.”

 

               “Sure thing, kid.” The raven pushed up from the counter and walked out of the kitchen, leaving a goofily smiling Eren behind him.

 

-+-

 

The next morning Eren was rudely awoken by a pillow being thrown at his head. The brunet groaned and pulled the thick comforter over his face, curling into a tighter ball. He heard a deep sigh before the blanket was ripped from his grip, unveiling the boy.

 

               “Oi kid, come on we don’t have all day.”

 

               Eren opened his eyes, a blurry figure of black and grey standing by his bed, a duffel bag thrown over their shoulder. Rubbing his eyes, Eren sat up, glancing at the old alarm clock on a nearby bedside table. He groaned loudly, throwing an arm over his eyes when he saw 5:32 in blinking red numbers. His arm was torn from his face and he leaned up on his elbow, looking up at an annoyed looking Levi.

 

               “Damn, took ya long enough.” The raven threw the duffel bag down on Eren’s legs. “Thought you were in a coma, or some shit.”  The man was wearing a grey shirt underneath his well-worn, black leather jacket. At the end of his (rather well fitting, Eren thought) jeans, he wore dark light-weight working boots. He was expertly put together, looking like he just stepped out of some ‘Hunter’s Vogue’ magazine, or something.

 

               Eren sniffled, running a hand through his messy bed head, pulling himself into a full upright sitting position.  Levi started towards his door.

 

               “I’m not waiting all day so be out by the stairs in five minutes.” He called out over his shoulder before opening the door and leaving.

 

               With a huff, the brunet threw himself back down on the bed and laid there for a few moments before getting the motivation to get up. The dark blue duffel bag fell to his feet as the he stood up. Eren bent over and picked it up, all the while trying to tame his wild hair. After getting it to a somewhat acceptable amount of messy, Eren left his room.

 

               He walked through the archway into the map room, spotting Levi leaning against the metal rail of the stairs talking to Hanji. Both of their heads turned when he walked in. Hanji beamed a smile that was way too excited for this early in the morning. Eren adjusted the bag strap on his shoulder before walking over to stand by Levi, who lifted off of the railing and was now grabbing keys out of his jacket pocket.

 

               “Morning Eren,” the woman greeted. She got a groggy grunt in response. Hanji giggled before adjusting the glasses on her nose. “Well, I don’t want to keep you boys for too long. Have fun you two.” She winked at Levi who just retorted with an eye roll. The raven motioned over his shoulder for Eren to follow. Levi’s boots and Eren’s sneakers clanked up the metal stairs before they reached the large metal door. Levi opened it with a squeak and let the outside light flood in.

 

               It was slightly cloudy outside; a nice breeze blew through the trees. Eren looked back at the now closed bunker, noticing it was inside of a hill. He slightly shivered at the thought that they had kept him deep underground. Eren started walking down the dirt road after Levi. On the other side of the drive there was a river that ran quietly.

 

               Levi stopped shortly after the door, going to the side of his black [car](http://38.media.tumblr.com/32937df0893482b288f6a898c8c948d5/tumblr_inline_nd2japtvbf1ro54ug.gif), unlocking it with a key. The car looked brand new, but it was an older model, that Eren knew. It was kept in an almost pristine condition, which Eren didn’t want to touch it in risk of dirtying it. Eren was pulled from his stupor when the driver’s door opened with a creak and Levi pulled himself down into the seat. The raven reached over and unlocked the passenger seat.

 

               Eren carefully let himself in the car. His eyebrows rose as he got view of the inside. It was in the same mint condition as the outside. Levi caught Eren drooling over his car out of the corner of his eye after turning on the ignition.

 

               “Nice car.” Eren said quietly, eyes raking over the dashboard. Levi smirked in response, revving the engine before pulling out onto the dirt road.

 

He totally wasn’t showing off. Not at all.

 

The ride was comfortably quiet as the car reached paved road. Levi reached over and turned on the radio, music spilling out into the car. His long, slender fingers tapped the steering wheel in time with the song.

 

Soon Levi pulled onto the street that headed towards Eren’s college.

 

“So you live in the dorms?” Levi’s even voice broke the silence. Eren’s head turned quickly towards him.

 

“Yeah, the west building.” The raven hummed in response and turned towards the direction of the dorms. Shortly after, the two reached Eren’s building. Levi pulled up curbside, shutting off the car. Both of them got out of the car at the same time, Levi walking over to the passenger’s side of the car. Eren pulled the duffel bag up his shoulder again before heading towards the doors. Levi stayed behind, his hands in his leather jacket’s pockets, leaning against the car.

 

Eren got to the door and went to opened it but stopped when he heard his name called out behind him. Before the boy could turn around completely to see who had called his name, two strong arms wrapped around his neck, pulling Eren into a constricting hug. He was initially stunned at the sudden hug attack, but hugged back nonetheless.

 

“Hey, Mikasa.” Eren greeted the girl that was wrapped around him. The girl pulled back, her hands on his shoulders, eyes scanning his face.

 

“Are you okay? What happened? Why didn’t you call anyone? Where were you?” The ravenette spit fired questions to the brunet. Before Eren could tell her to calm down, a blond blob hurried towards the pair behind Mikasa. The boy stopped when he reached Eren and Mikasa, leaning over, grabbing his knees and panting.

 

“Geez, Mika I said wait up.” Two, big blue eyes looked up at Eren when he finally straightened up again. Before Eren could say anything, the boy attacked Eren and the brunet was found once again to be in a strangling hug. Eren patted him on the back, trying to get free of his grip.

 

“Armin.. Can’t breathe.” The blond quickly let go of the taller male, worry and anger in his eyes.

 

“What the hell, Eren?! Where were you? You told me to pick you up at 9:00, and when I get there, there’s a sheriff at the library and you’re missing!” Armin exclaimed. Eren inhaled deeply, nodding his head.

 

“I know, I know, dick move, it’s just…” he trailed off, “I had some urgent business to take care of, and didn’t really had time to get in touch with you guys.”

 

“Three days,” Mikasa quietly added, her grey eyes burning into Eren’s, “I haven’t heard from you in three days. I thought you were-“ She stopped herself. Eren’s heart broke when he saw the worry and pain in her eyes. The woman clenched her jaw, obviously waiting for an explanation. “And when Armin told me you magically disappeared, I thought the worst had happened to you.”

 

Well, she wasn’t too far off, Eren thought. The boy sighed returning his sister’s stare. “I know. But I’m going to have to leave again.” Eren almost didn’t get through his last sentence when Armin exclaimed.

 

“Again?! What is so important Eren?” The blond crossed his arms, joining Mikasa in her disapproving stare.

 

Eren hesitated. “I can’t really tell you guys, but I’m just going to have to be gone for a while.” It was silent for a few heartbeats

 

“And what about school, Eren?” Mikasa asked, stepping closer, her thin eyebrows drawn together.

 

Eren shut his eyes and sighed. “I know, okay? I know. But trust me when I say that I have to do this.”

 

“Hey, Eren, who’s that?” Armin mumbled under his breath, looking at Levi. Eren had almost forgotten what he was there to do.

 

Levi was still leaning against the car, his arms folded, and his fingers tapping impatiently on his arm, his trademark bored-neutral mask on. His face didn’t change even when Mikasa shot at him with a skeptical glare.

 

“Just a friend,” Eren waved him off, “Look, I really got to go, okay? I’ll keep in touch, I swear.” He waited for some sort of response. His friends look hesitant, Armin eyeing Levi out of the corner of his eye.

 

The standstill stopped when Mikasa nodded once. Eren nodded in return and turned to the dorm door, but was held back by a hand grabbing his wrist.

 

“Just please, be safe.” Mikasa looked to him. Eren nodded again and Mikasa let go. The brunet disappeared into the building, leaving his two friends alone outside with Levi. Mikasa glared at the raven as Armin mumbled a ‘let’s go’ and began to pull her away. Levi returned her glare unwaveringly, until she was unable to anymore.

 

Levi sighed heavily through his nose, glancing at the watch on his wrist. He had already spent way more time than he wanted to here, and was quickly getting impatient. He still felt an annoying heavy feeling in his chest when he saw the girl wrap around Eren like a life line. He didn’t know what the feeling was, but it made Levi irritated.

 

Soon Eren emerged from the building, his bag full now. He looked down the steps to Levi. Even the man’s car matched his outfit. Eren inhaled sharply when grey orbs looked to him and watched him descend the few cement steps. Levi got up from the car and walked to driver’s seat, opening the door with a tad more force than was necessary. Eren followed him, slipping into the passenger’s side.

 

The engine roared to life when Levi started up the car, gripping the wheel with force, his knuckles turning white. The two drove in silence for a while before Levi spoke up.

 

“So,” he started, Eren looking over at him, “Girlfriend?”

 

Eren looked at him with a confused expression before he got who he was referring to.

 

“Who? Mika-, oh no, no she’s my adopted sister.” Eren clarified, waving his hands in front of him and watching as the man’s jaw unclench and lessen his death grip on the steering wheel. Levi’s eyes never left the road as he hummed in response.

 

“What about blondie, hmm?” Levi looked over at Eren, raising an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?” he almost spat out the word, but refrained from sounding as aggressive as he felt.

 

Eren chuckled lowly. “Armin? Nah, we’re just all childhood friends.” Levi turned his head back to focus on the road, and the boy took his silence as an acknowledgement.

 

Levi gripped the steering wheel without force as they drove down the highway, soft music filling the car.

 

-+-

 

The duo were about 45 minutes away from the campus Eren’s stomach let out a noise that sounded not far from a strangled bear. As soon as he heard that, the boy wrapped his arms around his torso, his eyes widened with a faint blush on his cheeks.

 

Levi looked over at his passenger, his heart jumping into his throat when he saw the blushing boy with big, teal saucers for eyes. Levi swallowed, gaining composure.

 

“Hungry?” he raised a thin eyebrow at the boy.

 

“Ah, I guess.” Levi huffed in amusement before turning off onto road. Levi held onto the steering wheel with one hand while his other elbow hung onto his door.  They strolled down a busy main street before Levi turned into a diner parking lot. The engine rolled to a stop when Levi pulled out the keys from the ignition, opening his door.

 

Eren looked up at the building. It was older looking building, not many people in according to the amount of cars parked out front. Eren followed Levi in opening his door. Levi pocketed his keys, tugging his jacket more securely on himself before heading towards the entrance.

 

Levi opened one of the double doors, Eren closely behind him. As soon as he stepped inside, the smell of food punched Eren in the face and he realized how hungry he really was.

 

Soon, a blonde waitress came around the corner, her hair up in a ponytail, a wide smile on her face.

 

“Two?” she asked in a sickly sweet voice, batting her eyelashes towards Levi. The man only nodded in response, apparently not noticing the girl’s actions or just not caring. After also noticing this fact, the girl’s smiled slightly faltered and she turned, leading the two males to a booth by the window.

 

Levi slid into the one facing the door, Eren on the other side. The waitress placed a menu in front of the two, smoothing out the black apron that clung to her waist.

 

“Can I start you off with anything to drink?” After the two told her what they wanted she left with a ‘be right back with those’ and left Levi and Eren to their own devices.

 

Levi slid his arms out of his jacket and placed it beside him in the booth. He sighed heavily, leaning his head on the back of the booth and closed his eyes, cracking his neck as he turned it side to side. Eren found himself staring around the restaurant, watching a few waiters and waitresses wander around, filling out orders and bringing out food that Eren nearly drooled just looking at.

 

Eren looked back in front of him. Levi’s eyes were no longer closed and his head no longer rested on the booth, but instead his gaze was directed straight at the boy. Eren almost began to squirm under Levi’s watch. Levi opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by two glasses set down in front of the males. He closed his mouth, Eren thanking the waitress, and took a drink.

 

“So,” she pulled out her order pad and a pen, eyes still on Levi, “Can I get you anything to eat?” She twirled the pen in her fingers, another sickly sweet smile directed to the raven. Eren rolled his eyes at the waitress.

 

Levi sighed, ordering a small little something. She wrote down his order with a little too much enthusiasm, and then turned over to Eren slightly, her smile significantly dropping. After ordering, she took their menus once again leaving the two in silence.

 

Silence with Levi was never really uncomfortable. There was a sort of air around the man that didn’t demand words be spoken, it was a sort of comforting, reassuring.

 

“So,” Levi began, which slightly surprised Eren, “If you’re going to be hanging around for a while, you’ll need to learn a few things.” The raven took a drink from his water.

 

Eren put down his drink, his gaze directed at the man once more. “Like what?” He played with the straw in his drink, spinning it around the ice cubes in his glass. Levi found himself staring at Eren’s fingers and how they twirled around the straw distractedly.

 

Was it even possible for hands to be attractive?

 

Levi’s eyes shot back up after a moment of relishing in the little show by Eren’s fingers, eyes locking onto the boy’s

 

“Well, for starters, do you know how to shoot a gun?” Levi leaned back, crossing his arms against his chest as he did so.

 

“Uh, no. Never had the need.” Eren huffed amused, before lifting the straw to the corner of his mouth, taking a drink. His eyes never leaving Levi’s

 

Levi swallowed thickly, jaw clenching at the sight. “Well, you’re gonna have to learn. And I’m sure you have no idea about hunters at all, correct?” He continued after having to regain his composure again.

 

“Nope.” The boy confirmed, placed his drink back on the table.

 

“Well to be short ‘n sweet about it, we’re the guys who take care of the things that go bump in the night. We look after cases that include murders and disappearances that happen with a distinct pattern. Hell, even if the weather is freaky we look into it. But it’s obviously not a thing that we just let the world know about. Our main job is to keep humanity safe and clueless. Get what I’m saying?” Levi finished, now leaning his elbows on the table, closer to Eren. The boy nodded in response, getting a better understanding of what Levi did.

 

Before Eren could ask any questions, a plate of food was placed down in front of him and Levi. Eren’s stomach growled quietly at the sight. After Levi dismissed the disappointed waitress, Eren wasted no time in digging into his food. He had never felt this hungry in his life, and it didn’t make sense because he had eaten recently; it wasn’t like the hunters starved him.

 

Levi picked at his food, warily eyeing Eren inhale his. In almost record time, the boy was done, licking his fork clean. After that, he downed the remnants of his drink. Eren then looked up at Levi who was no doubt looking at Eren strangely.

 

“What? Is there something on my face?” the brunet took a napkin, wiping his mouth.

 

Levi thought of something and he reached for the knife that came with the meal. He discretely grabbed the blade and pressed his thumb against the serrated edge. Quickly and with force, he drug it across the sharp bumps, effectively making a small cut on his thumb. It didn’t take long for it to start to bead with blood.

 

Eren looked over to Levi’s now bleeding hand.

 

“Oh, geez, are you alright?” he asked, eyebrows drawing together as he watched Levi let his thumb bleed down his hand.

 

Interesting, Levi though after he noticed Eren had not acted strange towards Levi’s blood.

 

“Yeah.” He answered simply, grabbing a napkin, wrapping it around his thumb. Eren looked at him with questioning eyes, but decided against asking.

 

“So, about hunters,” Eren started, “what kind of things do you guys hunt, exactly?”

 

“Mainly anything supernaturally harmful to humanity.”

 

“Like?” Eren prodded.

 

“Like things that horror movies are made of. You know, like vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts, goblins, ghouls,” Levi said with sarcasm. “Maybe a few demons in the mix of things, a few gods on an exciting day.”

 

Eren’s already big eyes enlarged even more so. “Wait, gods?”

 

“Yeah, like Wiccan ones, or Greek ones.”

 

“Woah, wait, wait, so all of the Greek myths are true?” Eren was now leaning towards Levi, totally enraptured in what the raven was talking about. Levi nodded and shrugged in response. Eren leaned back, eyes big and wonder filled. “Wow.” He breathed out.

 

“It can be a bit intimidating for people just finding all of this out.” Levi  said, watching Eren take in the information.

 

“Was it weird finding out for yourself?” the boy suddenly asked, surprising the raven.

 

“My dad was a hunter. So no, not really.” Was all he said, his tone a bit defensive. Eren didn’t dig further into the subject, for which Levi was thankful for. Just then their waitress came over with their tab, leaving with a not-so-subtle wink at Levi. Eren looked over to the piece of paper she left, snorting at what was written.

 

“Oh my god she gave you her number,” Eren giggled. Levi sighed, lifting the paper and pursed his lips. He rolled his eyes pulling out his wallet, going to put the bills on the table

 

“Oh, you don’t have to pay, I got it.” Eren pulled his ratty worn out wallet from his pocket and waved it a bit.

 

Levi froze, staring at the boy with his trademark face. “It’s okay.” He all but whispered and continued to thumb through his wallet.

 

“Come on, I’ll feel bad if you pay for it, just let me.”

 

Levi sighed, looking at the ceiling before back at the brunet. “Eren, I swear to god if you don’t put your wallet away I’m going to shove it down your throat.”

 

The boy complied mumbling out a ‘wow, touchy’ and let the man pay for their meals. After pocketing his wallet and grabbing his jacket from the booth, Levi slid out and stood. Eren followed after and the raven led the two back out to the car.

 

The two got in the car, closing the door simultaneously. Levi started the engine and revved off to the bunker once more.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sexual tension with guns

              About 20 more minutes into the drive, Levi glanced over at Eren. The boy rested his head on his arm which rested on the window, his eyes closed, his mouth was slightly open in a noiseless sleep.

               Levi turned down the music until it was just a faint whisper, stealing glances at the sleeping form of Eren in the passenger seat. The raven had to remind himself multiple times to keep his eyes on the road so he didn’t crash, but found it extremely difficult when Eren was within arm’s reach of him, looking peaceful and innocent.

               Levi scolded himself mentally and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, training his eyes on the quiet highway in front of him. His grey eyes shot over to Eren when the boy shifted and sighed, still fast asleep. A half smile found its way onto the man’s face before he realized it.

               Soon (a bit too soon, if you asked Levi), he turned the car onto the dirt road, leading to the bunker. He pulled up where it was when they left and turned off the car. Levi pocketed his keys once more, looking over at the sleeping boy once more.

               “Hey, we’re here,” Levi patted Eren’s shoulder, the brunet grumbling before opening his eyes. He sniffled before he sat all the way up, adjusting his jacket, and opening the passenger door with a creak. Levi was already heading towards the metal doors of the bunker when Eren emerged from the car. Eren rubbed sleep from his eye as he followed the raven inside.

               Their footfalls were met with metallic clanks as they made their way down the stairs, Levi glancing around the bunker.

               “What’s wrong?” Eren asked when he noticed Levi’s searching.

               “Hanji and Erwin aren’t here.” He responded simply. The raven walked into the main room, finding a note taped to one of the tables.

 

               _Erwin found us a case just outside of Fort Collins, we have it under control so you just stay with Eren and get him situated. ;)_

                                                                          -        _Hanji_

 

               Levi read through the monstrosity that was Hanji’s handwriting, growling internally and cursing the female. Eren stood in the archway, eyes scanning Levi curiously. The man crumpled up the small note, shoving it in his pocket before turning to Eren.

                “They’re on case right now. Probably won’t be back till tomorrow or the next day.” Eren nodded his head in understanding.

                “Well, I’m going to put my stuff in the room.” The brunet turned to head down the hallway.

                “Meet me outside when you’re finished.” The raven’s voice called out to him. Eren looked over his shoulder with a nod before heading to his room. As soon as the boy was out of sight, Levi pulled the gun from the waistband of his jeans, checking his bullets before putting it back. He walked briskly to his own room.

                By his door sat a heavy trunk. Levi had left it unlocked, so he just simply opened the thick top. Guns of various size and form sat organized in specific slots along the inside of the top and along the walls and bottom of the trunk. He waved his hands around a few, trying to figure out which one he would be okay with Eren using before settling on  a simple, black handgun. It fit nicely in Levi’s hand, the weight of the firearm weighing his hand down slightly.

                Closing the trunk and, making sure to lock it this time, he went to his bedside table, opening the drawer. He pulled out a small, but heavy, cardboard box. He opened that to reveal rows of bullets lined up neatly in three rows. Nodding to himself, he took the handgun and bullets with him as he walked out of his room and made his way back to the front stairs.

                 Outside, the man scoped out a thick tree far enough from the bunker. Walking over, he grabbed out his pocket knife, carving a crudely drawn target in the bark; a small circle with a larger one around it. Satisfied, the man walked over to the bunker doors to wait for Eren.

                  Not long after, the boy in question emerged from the bunker, wearing a new, clean shirt. He looked at Levi expectantly, and the man just walked off to the direction of the marked tree, motioning for Eren to follow.

                  “What are we doing?” The brunet asked, catching up to the man.

                  “Target practice. I’d feel better taking you on cases if you’d actually be able to defend yourself somehow.” Eren slightly faltered.

                  “You mean, you’re going to take me on cases with you?”

                  “Only if you prove that you don’t need someone holding your hand the whole time, then sure.” Eren huffed at Levi’s answer, mumbling an ‘I don’t need someone to hold my hand’. Levi led Eren over, the tree a good several feet from the pair. Levi pulled out the black handgun, flipping it so the grip was pointed out to Eren. The boy’s eyes widened slightly before he grabbed the gun from Levi’s hand.

                  “Okay, so you see that tree?” Levi pointed, and Eren nodded in response. “Try to get as close to the center as you can,” Levi pointed to a certain spot that sat on the top of the gun, “Use this to aim.” He took a step back from the boy who raised the gun in front of him, both hands gripping the gun.

                  He closed one teal eye, trying to line it up just right, and pulled the trigger. The noise seemed to startle Eren a bit, the bullet landing far off from its target. Eren huffed, reloading, taking a more sturdy stance, his feet firmly planted on the ground. Repeating his targeting, his held his breath and pulled the trigger. This time, bark flew off from one side of the tree as the bullet skimmed off of it. Eren lowered the gun, sighing slightly.

                  Levi stepped closer to him now, grabbing the boy’s wrists and brought the gun back up to where it was. The raven stepped even closer, his body flush up against the taller male’s. He felt Eren flinch slightly at the contact, but kept quiet. Levi brought his other arm around Eren’s shoulders, lining up the gun to the boy.

                  Eren swallowed thickly as he felt the raven’s strong arms wrap around him. He could feel his warm breath on the back of his neck, he was so close.

                  “When you go to shoot take a deep breath in,” Levi’s even voice pulled Eren back to the present, his arms still around him, “Before you pull the trigger, let the breath out slowly.” Levi all but purred in his ear. Eren wet his dry lips, fidgeting his fingers around the handgun. The man pulled his arms back to his side, Eren quickly missing their presence, and took a step back.

                  Eren closed one eye, taking a steady breath in through his nose, aiming up to the tree. The breath evenly left the same way it came, and Eren pulled the trigger. The bullet lodged in the first circle, closer to the middle than the outer edge.

                  Eren let out an airy chuckle, looking at Levi with happy eyes. A side of Levi’s mouth turned upwards back at the boy in a form of praise.

                  The two practiced for a while (Levi only having to interfere again one more time) until Eren’s arms began to ache. Most of the bullets Levi had were gone, and Eren had quickly figured out how to reload the gun, along with all the other ins and outs of the handgun.

                  Eren handed the gun to Levi.

                  “Keep it.” Teal eyes widened in response.

                  “Y-you sure?” He asked timidly. Levi nodded back without saying anything else, and started off towards the bunker. By now the sun had almost set completely, just peeking out from behind the mountains, and painting the sky orange and pink, drawing the pair’s shadows out long behind them.

                  Walking back into the bunker, Levi stifled a yawn, walking towards the hallway.

                  “I’m heading to bed,” the man said without looking at Eren, “See you in the morning.” Eren could hear the man’s boots descend deeper down the hallway before he couldn’t hear them anymore. Eren headed after him, stopping at his door and entering his room.

                  The boy placed his gun on the bedside table, shoving off his shoes with his feet, sitting on his bed. Eren’s mind wandered back to Levi and how his arms felt around Eren, the feeling of his chest pressing against him slightly with every breath he took, his deep voice purring in his ear- Eren hid his blushing face in his hands, groaning as quietly as he could.

                  This man was going to be the death of him.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanji's a cockblock and Levi may or may not have a suit kink.

The next morning rolled around quietly. Eren woke up by himself around 7.  He was still in the shirt from last night and had a pair of basketball shorts he wore to bed. He laid there, trying to find the motivation to get up when his stomach growled in protest.

               With a sigh, he rolled out of bed, running a hand through his chestnut hair, not really caring how messy it was at this point. He rubbed sleep from his eyes as he padded down the hallway, his steps muffled by his socks. He walked through the study and into the archway of the kitchen. He almost had a heart attack when there was already someone in there, but quickly realized it was just Levi.

               The man had his back to the boy, fixing himself a cup of coffee, and holy _shit_ was this guy fit. His sinfully tight white tank top hugged his broad shoulders, leaving his rounded, filled out shoulders exposed. Eren got a sense of how strong Levi was during target practice the previous night, but now he had a visual to go along with it. Eren could see Levi’s back muscles ripple as he reached up into a cupboard, grabbing a mug and going to fill it. Levi’s legs were covered with a pair of slightly baggy black sweatpants, just hanging off of his hip bones.

               Eren felt his face warm up when Levi turned around to face him, blowing on his coffee. The raven took a sip, eyes never leaving Eren, before he spoke.

               “There’s mugs up there,” he flicked his head over his shoulder, indicating to the cupboard. The boy half nodded and slunk over to the counter, Levi moving out of his way. The man’s eyebrows scrunched together when he noticed the brunet’s stiff movements around him.

               He leaned back on the counter, taking another drink before breaking the silence. “Do you know how to fight?”

               The boy looked up from his cup of coffee he was stirring some sugar in, shooting a confused look at the random question.

               “Like hand-to-hand,” Levi elaborated. Eren made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth in understanding.

               “Well I’ve been in plenty of fights,” Eren placed the spoon down on a folded up paper towel by the coffee maker, “But I’m sure that’s not enough to go off of.” He wrapped both of his hands around the mug, the steam rising into his face. The raven nodded in agreement, looking down and taking another drink. Eren gulped down his drink, Levi placed his nearly empty mug on the counter he was leaning on, and turned to Eren. He asked him if he was finished, which was responded with a nod, and took both mugs and placed them in the sink.

               “Follow me.” The man walked out of the kitchen, Eren following close behind. He rounded the corner into the hallway, walking down to a door that was deep in the hallway. He opened the door, feeling the wall to flip on the light. As soon as he did, the old lights flickered before staying on.

               Levi walked in, Eren behind him. The brunet looked around the air conditioned room. It had various weights along one side of the wall, and a wide mirror that went up to the ceiling on the wall opposite of the door. In the middle there was a blue mat, it was raised slightly by the edges of the mat lifting it to be above the floor a bit.

               “Geez how many rooms does this place have?” Eren asked, still looking around.

               “You’d be surprised.” Levi responded, walking closer to the mat. He motioned for Eren to come over to him, which the boy obeyed, stopping a couple feet from the man. Levi took a step on the mat, it caving a minuscule amount below the man’s weight. He looked at the boy expectantly, who in turn stepped up after him.

               They stood on opposite side of the mat, Levi rolling his shoulders.

               “In this line of work, knowing how to defend yourself and take care of assailants is crucial.” His deep voice explained. Eren nodded, watching the man hop from foot to foot a couple times. “Some of the times, your weapon won’t be in reach, or, on rare occasions, you’ll have to deal with a human, which can be just as tedious as dealing with something else.” Levi stopped moving, his feet shoulders width apart. He crouched his head slightly, eyes locked on the brunet. He raised his fists, guarding his face while guarding his ribs with his elbows. “Come at me.”

               Levi’s demand startled him. Did he expect Eren to _fight_ him? Hesitantly, the boy dropped into a stance similar to Levi’s, starting to circle the man. Levi followed his footsteps. They tiptoed around each other in a tango of focus and tension.

               Eren exhaled sharply, pushing off of one foot, rushing the man. He flung a fist out towards him, but the attack was easily avoided. Almost quicker than a blink of an eye, Levi swiveled out of the way of Eren’s fist, landing a blow on the boy’s unguarded ribs. It was obvious that he was holding back significantly, but he made sure that the boy felt his mistake.

               Eren huffed as he felt the hit to his side. He turned back around, Levi still on the defensive. Eren didn’t hesitate, charging again, sliding his feet at the man, firing away his fists. The raven blocked each hit with his arms, or dodged out of the way. As irritation started to ebb away at Eren, his foot work became sloppy, his blows unrelenting. It drove Levi to take steps back, Eren following close behind.

               Swiftly, Levi swiped his leg at Eren’s ankles, kicking with a tad more force. Eren slammed back first into the mat, being brought back to a more sensible frame of mind as the air was pushed from his lungs temporarily. Levi brought his fists down, stepping closer to the laying figure, looking down on the boy. Eren was panting, his cheeks slightly flushed from over exertion.

               “You get too ahead of yourself, kid.” Levi started, his grey eyes boring into Eren’s. “You need to keep your cool in order to remain focused. You probably could’ve seen that kick coming if you did.” Eren pushed himself up, his arms holding him up from behind. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, pushing back up from the mat, brushing off his shorts. He took another deep breath, settling himself. Levi nodded more to himself as he saw the boy get grounded again. “Alright,” Levi clenched his fists a few times, “This time be on the defensive.” He quickly dropped into a different stance, this one making Eren a bit nervous.

               The boy barely had time to put his fists up to block a hit before Levi began attacking him with professional precision. Eren stepped back hastily, trying to put some distance between him and Levi’s fists to get his bearings. But Levi was quicker, swiveling around the boy, landing an open handed hit in between the boy’s shoulders, hitting with the butt of his hand. Eren stumbled forward at the impact, nearly losing his footing. But as he whipped around, he threw out a fist blindly, stunned when it actually hit something.

               Levi let out a puff of air as his side was hit by the boy’s fists. Levi half stumbled, quickly gaining his bearings again. Eren’s eyes widened in disbelief at the fact that he _actually_ landed a hit on Levi, and also in fear as he looked into the raven’s eyes. They seemed to cut right through Eren, as they narrowed dangerously. Eren cursed under his breath as he struggled greatly to back away from the new onslaught of attacks that now rained down on Eren.

               When Eren moved to defend his face, a blow was delivered to his exposed ribs, and vice versa. In a moment of desperation, Eren stole one of Levi’s moves, swiveling on one foot, turning away from the man. Levi stumbled forward slightly when he hit nothing. The boy took this as an opportunity and swung a knee at Levi’s back. He held back, but it was still enough for Levi to huff out an audible breath at the hit.

               Turning around dangerously quick, Levi targeted Eren’s feet with a kick. Eren almost didn’t see the impending hit. Levi’s kick cracked against Eren’s ankles, swiping the boy’s feet out from under him once again. Eren flailed his arms out as he fell, grabbing onto the nearest thing, which just so happened to be Levi’s arm.

               Eren dragged him down with him as his back hit the mat again. Levi stopped himself before he landed completely on the boy, his forearm hitting the mat near Eren’s head to halt his downward motion. Eren still had a hold on Levi’s arm, which was on the other side of Eren’s head, pinning the boy’s hand to the mat. Levi sat, straddling one of the boy’s legs.

               Their noses were only a breath away as they both looked at each other, bewildered at what had just happened. Eren was still surprised that he managed to grab onto Levi, but once he realized their current position, he felt his cheeks heat up slightly. By now both of them were panting, trying to catch their breath. Levi’s eyes darted back and forth between the two teal pools of Eren’s, his grey eyes wider than usual.

               Eren stared back, his tongue wetting his bottom lip. He saw Levi’s gaze cut down to his mouth before back up to his eyes once more.

               Time seemed to slow down at that moment for the two as they laid there for what seemed like hours, but in reality a few moments. Almost in slow motion, Eren saw Levi bringing his face closer to Eren’s and Eren found himself raising his head to meet him halfway. Eren’s eyes closed on their own, he could feel Levi’s breath on his lips now, only a hair’s width away. Eren tilted his head, lips ghosting against Levi’s-

               “Leeeeviii, are you ho- Oh ho ho, am I interrupting something?” Levi’s eyes shot open, and he shot up from the mat at a dizzying speed. He looked bewildered at the woman that now stood at the door way, an eyebrow of her’s raised and a knowing half smile on her face. Eren’s eyes had shot open when he felt Levi’s weight rip off of him. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, turning his head to see Hanji standing with her hands on her hips.

               Levi literally growled at the brunette, glaring daggers her way. “You wish, shit glasses.” If Eren didn’t know any better, he’d say that Levi was actually blushing at that moment.

               “Well I have just come to inform you that Erwin and I are back,” she said, seemingly unaffected by Levi’s death glare, “So, I’ll just let you too continue.” Her grin curled up at the edges, fleeing from the doorway before Levi could throw more threats at her.

               Eren was still against the mat, one of his knees bent and in the air. He was still in shock from they were just doing, or rather, what they _would’ve_ done. Levi looked down at the boy, his face trained to unveil no emotion. The man held out his hand, offering it to Eren. The brunet looked at it hesitantly before grabbing hold of it. Levi effortlessly lifted Eren up onto his feet, taking his hand back as soon as he was stable, not lingering with Eren’s.

               Eren swallowed, looking with big, teal, doe eyes at the man, who just turned his back to Eren, heading back to the door, mumbling a ‘good job’. Eren seemed to be frozen to the spot, watching the retreating figure of the raven open the door and close it, leaving Eren alone in the room.

-+-

               Eren shuffled out of the gym, his head whipping up, glancing down the hallway, scoping out to make sure there was no one there. Carefully, he stepped all the way out, his feet padding down the hallway. Eren quickly reached his room, not taking any time in opening the door and closing it behind him.

               He rested his back on the closed door behind him, his eyes staring at the ceiling. Eren’s heart was still beating irregularly, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the fighting or from Levi. Eren took a deep, slow breath, trying to get his heartbeat under control. Eren’s hand subconsciously rose to his face, his fingers ghosting over his lips. His heart gave another stutter as he remembered the nearly miniscule contact of Levi’s against his own.

               Eren shook his head, scolding himself for getting so damn flustered over him. He pushed off of the door, heading to the drawers on the side of the room. Opening them, he pulled out a pair of dark jeans and a dark maroon shirt. Eren went to the other side of the room, opening a door to the bathroom that was attached to his room.

               The boy went over to the shower, turning it on, and the water falling from the shower head shortly after. Eren stripped off his remaining clothes before stepping into the slightly cool water. He sighed as let the stream hit his back. His muscles ached from being slammed into the mat multiple times, and so did his sides from the many attacks he was hit with. After standing in the shower for a while and cleaning himself of sweat, he turned off the shower, reaching up at a pile of folded towels that rested on a shelf.

               He got dressed shortly after toweling himself off, said towel now hung over both of his shoulders as he brushed through his hair. After many moments of procrastination, he decided to face the outside world, throwing the towel alongside his other dirty laundry in a hamper in the bathroom, and opened the bedroom door carefully, peeking his head out.

               It was quiet in the hallway, and Eren couldn’t hear any noise from the other rooms. Eren stepped out, his door closing with a small creak. He walked silently down the hallway, through the map room, and through the study. He hesitated near the archway of the kitchen when he looked in to see Hanji talking to a tense Levi. Both of the hunter’s head shot up at Eren, even though he didn’t make any noise. The boy walked up through the kitchen. His heart stopped momentarily when Levi quickly approached him, but dropped when the raven breezed by him, not even sparing the brunet a glance.

               Eren watched the man retreat out of the corner of his eye before walking into the kitchen more so. Hanji was resting with her side against the counter, her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. Eren sighed, Hanji watching the boy’s slightly sluggish movements. The boy went over to the fridge, digging around before giving up, running a hand through his damp hair and sighing.

               “What’s wrong, Angel Eyes?” Hanji asked in a light tone of voice, picking up on the boy’s internal struggle.

               “He hates me,” Eren mumbled as he leaned his elbows on the counter, covering his face with his hands.

               “Who, Levi? Oh hun, if Levi hated you, you’d know it,” she chuckled “No, he’s just never been good about this sort of thing.”

               “What sort of thing?” Eren asked, tilting his head towards Hanji.

               “You know, feelings and all that good stuff. He may not show it, but he’s actually a very emotional person, he just plays it off with terrible jokes and a cynical attitude.” Hanji turned so her back rested fully against the counter now, still looking at Eren.

               The brunet snorted. “Yeah, right. Levi. Emotions.” He splayed his hands out dramatically enunciating his already sarcastic tone.

               “No, I’m serious. He’s just been trained from a young age not to let that sort of stuff interfere in his life.” The woman’s tone grew somber, “Levi’s had it rough, Eren, his life hasn’t necessarily been a picnic.” She sighed, “But, he’ll tell you when he’s ready, just don’t push him.”

               “How are you so sure that he’ll even tell me?” the boy questioned.

               A small smile broke out in the corner of her mouth. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll let you in.”  The woman winked and left the kitchen, leaving Eren to figure out what exactly she meant.

-+-

               Levi glided through the hallway until he reached his room. Once inside, he went over to his laptop that was leaning against his bed being charged. He plopped down in his bed, resting against the headrest, and pulled up the computer and waited for it to turn on.

               He just needed to find a small case. That would get clear his mind.

               In full honesty, even Levi wasn’t completely sure what had happened earlier. Levi was never one to let his emotions, or god forbid his feelings, get in the way of his life. And Levi was _never_ one to let down his guard like that.

               He huffed, running a hand through his hair when the laptop finally started up. His home page was the news section of a search engine. He looked through the unnecessary articles about celebrities’ lives and bunch of other shit that no one truly cares about.

               He almost gave up, but stopped his scrolling when he came across the small headline ‘ **freak nail gun accident kills Kansas local** ’. He clicked on the blue link. It brought him to an article on a separate website, which told of the rather gruesome death that happened in the family’s garage. The man was found in his garage, literally nailed to the wall with several nine inch nails sticking out of him.

               “Yeah, _accident_.” Levi huffed under his breath. He quickly jot down the address of said “accident” and turned off his computer, placing it back in it’s spot.

               Levi walked out of his room, taking a quick glance in the empty library before turning back into the hallway. He shuffled down to Erwin’s door, knocking twice. Erwin opened it moments later, looking down at Levi.

               “What’s up?” the blond nodded towards the piece of paper in Levi’s hands.

               “Murder, about an hour’s drive from here. I think it’d go smoother if I had backup.”

               Erwin sighed, pushing his slightly messy hair back. “Levi I would, but I just got back from a case with Hanji.” It was obvious that their case must’ve been exhausting, considering how unusually subdued Hanji was and the fact that Erwin’s hair wasn’t at its usual perfection.

               “I guess I’ll just handle this on my own,” Levi grumbled, turning away from the door and Erwin.

               “Well what if you take Eren?” Levi stopped, swiveling on his heel to face the tall man again. “You’ve been working with him, I assume. Let him go, get a taste of the hunter’s life.”  Levi stared at him. “Besides, it’s a case within the state, so it’s not like you’re going cross country with him.”

               The raven rolled his eyes. Erwin was right, and he knew it according to the smug little smile he had on his face. It would be a good first job for Eren, and that way the boy would get a firsthand experience of the job. Levi groaned.

               “Fine,” he mumbled more to himself before he turned and continued his walk down the hallway. He stopped when he reached Eren’s door. Levi assumed he would be here, since the rest of the bunker seemed to be empty. He raised a fist, and hesitated before he knocked a short two times. He could hear the boy’s footsteps walk up to the door and stop when the door knob turned and opened.

               Eren peeked his head out timidly, before noticing it was just Levi. He opened the door all the way, looking at the Levi like the man was about to hit him.

               “We got a case kid, meet me at the car in ten.” Levi said, short and sweet, before he turned to walk towards his own door.

               “Wait, you’re taking me with you?” Eren’s voice pulled Levi back. The man sighed to himself before looking over his shoulder.

               “Yeah, Erwin said it’d be a ‘good first case’, or some shit. I don’t know, just, get ready.” Levi turned and left before Eren could add anything else.

-+-

               Nine minutes later, Eren strolled out of the bunker, wearing a black zip up hoodie now and his sneakers. Levi was resting against his car, wearing something alike his other outfits, this time a faded black button up was where his leather jacket would usually have been, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his forearms.

               Levi looked up when he heard the bunker doors opening, flicking a cigarette butt to the ground and stomping it out with the heel of his boot. He got up from the side of the car he was resting on and walked over to the driver’s side.

               The two got in, the engine growling to life. Eren was uncharacteristically silent in fear of making the air awkward. He glanced over at Levi out of the corner of his eye. The man seemed to forget the day’s earlier shenanigans as he drove down the road without any visible discomfort. Eren calmed down slightly when he noticed that this drive wouldn’t be the awkward hour that he feared.

               “So, what kind of a case is it?” Eren’s voice broke through the quiet a few miles down the road. Levi grabbed the wheel with one hand, the other hanging off the door as his elbow rested by the window.

               “There was a murder ‘bout 45 minutes away that included a nail gun,” Eren grimaced as he listened, “They say it was an accident, but we all know that people don’t just ‘accidentally’ get nailed to the wall of their garages, so, that’s where we come in.” Levi finished, finally looking over at his passenger.

               “But, how are we going to get in, I mean this is an ongoing murder case, won’t there be police?” The brunet questioned.

               “Speaking of which,” Levi looked back at the road, a smirk on his face, “We’re going to have to get you a suit.”

-+-

               “Do I really have to wear this?” Eren questioned, his voice was slightly muffled by the walls of the changing room.

               Down the road a few miles in the next town, Levi turned into a suit rental store, and after much convincing and a few threats thrown into the mix, he finally got Eren to try on a suit.

               Now, the raven was sitting in a chair outside of the curtained changing room, an ankle resting on his knee and his arms crossed. He sighed for what felt like the millionth time, grabbing the bridge of his nose. The two already got a few strange looks from their earlier escapade in the store, and Levi hated the excess attention.

               “Eren, we’ve already been through this, _yes_ , you do. Now come out, we don’t have all day.” Levi snapped at the voice in the changing room. He heard a heavy sigh come from beyond the curtain before it shifted to the side, and Eren walk out.

               Levi eyed the boy as he emerged fully from the room, and _holy shit_ did he fill out nicely in a suit. The dark suit was over a white shirt, a forest green tie disappearing further into the suit.

               Eren felt slightly self-conscious as the man raked his eyes over Eren, his expression not changing. Eren sniffled and fixed his tie before the raven stood.

               “It’ll do,” Eren breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to the changing room. “Ah ah, you stay in that, we don’t have time for you to change again. Just grab your clothes and wait for me.” Eren’s shoulders slumped, but did as he was told.

               Levi disappeared momentarily, but came out soon, now wearing an all-around dark suit. He had a black suit, dark grey undershirt, and a black tie to finish it off. He was buttoning the cuffs on his sleeves as he came over to Eren again, a plastic bag with his clothes hung on his shoulder. He held the bag out to Eren, and the brunet put his in along with Levi’s.

               Levi flicked his head out towards the door. After paying for their suits, the two headed back out to Levi’s car. Eren walked behind the shorter male, watching him go to the other side of the car and getting in. When they were both inside, Eren’s eyes were still on Levi.

               “What are you, Batman?” he asked, obviously pointing out Levi’s color choices.

               The man shrugged. “Maybe.”

               “Would you tell me if you were?”

               “Maybe.”

“Is that all you can say?”

He hesitated. “Maybe.”

Eren smiled, shaking his head slightly as his gaze was directed towards the road again. Levi looked over at the smiling passenger, feeling a half smile on his face as he drove off down the road once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this ended in a weird place, if I didn't end it where I did, it would've gone on and on.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets a taste of the hunter's life

The two, now all suited up, pulled down a suburban neighborhood. They drove down the street until they came upon sheriff cars and ambulances. People from other homes looked out their windows, or were outside trying to get a better look.

               The car rumbled to a stop as Levi parked it a bit off from the official cars. Instead of getting out of the car, Levi leaned over, opening the glove department.

               Eren watched as he sifted through different IDs and badges. Some were pest control, some were sheriff and detective. Levi stopped sifting through the illegal pieces of plastic and pulled out a leather bound badge. It was folded in half, and when Levi opened it, a big shiny badge was on the bottom flap, and on the top was the bold letters of **FBI**. Eren’s eyes widened as Levi closed the badge and handed it to him. Eren took it hesitantly.

               “Isn’t this like… illegal?” he asked, inspecting the badge in his hands.

               “Don’t think of it as ‘illegal’,” he made quotation marks with his hands, “think of it as… frowned upon.” With that, Levi opened the door with a creak and got out, adjusting his suit. Eren got out after him, tailing his closely. The boy watched as Levi put a badge similar to his in the breast pocket on the inside of his suit, so he quickly did the same.

               Soon the two reached the crime scene, police tape bordering the house and yard off, the garage open. Levi simply ducked under the tape, holding it up for Eren to do the same. The boy’s eyes stayed on the garage and the crime scene photographers taking pictures inside. Soon, a deputy spotted the two, his eyebrows drawn together and he walked briskly over to them.

Eren swallowed thickly as the man neared. He shouldn’t have been nervous; he was a rather good liar, and got away with a lot because of it. But he had never lied to someone that could throw him in jail for it.

               Beside him, Levi looked calm and collected, watching the deputy approached. The two stopped walking when he reached them. Levi then reached into his suit, pulling out his badge and flashing at the deputy.

               “I’m FBI Agent Kiefer, this is my partner Agent Wilson,” Levi pocketed his badge once more, looking to Eren, who just stood there. “ _Also_  FBI,” he growled at the boy. Knocked from his stupor, he fumbled out his badge flipping it open. Levi looked at him, before reaching over to the badge that Eren held out and flipped it right side up for him, and placed it back in his hand. Eren looked down to look at his now correctly positioned badge. “He’s new,” Levi explained.

               The deputy glanced at Eren and then back to Levi, walking towards the garage. Levi followed, shooting a look at Eren to follow. The deputy stopped near the entrance, slightly turning to the pair.

               “I don’t know why the FBI would be interested in this,” he ran a hand over his bald head before placing it on his hip, “this kind of stuff just… happens.” The deputy hesitated.

               “You and I both know that people don’t just get nailed to walls, officer.” Levi said, looking over the garage. Eren stood behind him, easily looking over the raven and into the crime scene. Blood was pooled over on one wall, beginning to dry. There were holes in the wall above it, blood seeming to drip and dry from those as well. Eren grimaced when he saw the unplugged nail gun on the other side of the garage. People walked in and out of the garage, all doing something that Eren couldn’t figure out.

               “Well, do you mind if we take a small peek around?” Levi asked the deputy who shook his head, gesturing with his hand for them to go right ahead. Levi nodded thanks and stepped inside, Eren following close behind.

               When he was far enough away from other people with his back to the entrance of the garage, he went into his suit pocket again, pulling out a strange looking device. It looked like it was fashioned from an old radio, lights that went from green to yellow to red in a line on the top of said device. Levi pulled out an antenna on the top of it and scanned it around various things, it emitting a clicking, whirring noise.

               “What is that?” Eren asked.

               “An EMF reader,” he said simply. Eren huffed amused, like he was supposed to know what that meant.

               “And what is that supposed to do?”

               “Ghosts, and all that good stuff, leave behind EMF, or, electromagnetic fields. If one was the cause of this, then it would’ve left behind some remnants of EMF.” Levi ran the EMF reader over several objects on the table, glancing over his shoulder at the other people in the garage every so often.

               Eren watched Levi, and looked over the garage. The whirring noise increased and the lights shot up to red as Levi ran it over the nail gun. He ‘tch’ed and pushed the antenna back down, putting it back in his pocket. Levi started off out of the garage, Eren trotting up behind him.

               “Well, what now?” Eren asked as they walked out of the garage. Levi looked over at him.

               “Now we interview the wife,” he said with a heavy sigh.

-+-

               “I just don’t know how this could’ve happened,” the blonde in the chair in front of them blew her nose for what seemed like the hundredth time, “He was always so careful.” She huffed back another sob.

               Eren and Levi sat together on the couch in the victim’s living room, his wife in a blubbering mess in the chair across the coffee table in front of them. Levi reached over, plucking another tissue from the box and handing it to her. She took it, dabbing her eyes.

               “Stuff like this can happen, Mrs. Monroe,” Levi lied in a calming tone, “but we just need to ask a few questions about your husband.” Eren was quiet, observing the situation. Levi was resting his elbows on his knees, his mask a little less tense than usual.

               “The police already questioned me, though,” she sniffled.

               “Well, we’re not police. We’re doing our own investigation.” Levi’s tone left no room to discuss. She seemed to understand, nodding and bringing her tissue down to rest in her lap.

               “So did Mr. Monroe have any enemies, per say?”

               “Oh god no, Jim was extremely well liked. He was good at his job, made friends easily,” she seemed to stare off into space before shaking her head, “No; I can’t imagine anyone that’d want to hurt him.” Mrs. Monroe looked back up to Levi, sniffling. The raven nodded.

               “You said he was good at his job,” Levi started, threading his fingers together, “Where exactly did he work?”

               “He worked at the post office in town. I don’t exactly know what he did because he got promoted so much,” she chuckled to herself before breaking down into tears again. Levi sighed internally at the sight, standing up.

               “Well thank you, Mrs. Monroe, we’ll keep in touch.” Eren stood up after Levi, and walked out side by side with him as they said goodbye.

               As the two walked outside, back under the police tape and on the sidewalk back to the car, Eren noticed Levi’s face deep in thought.

               “What’s up?” he finally asked.

               “She said that he got promotions frequently,” was all the raven replied with. Eren gave him a questioning look as he walked to the driver’s side of the car, Eren stopping at the passenger’s side.

               “And?”

               “And, I’m sure that means there was someone that was jealous and wanted to get rid of him.” Levi replied with as he slid into the car. Eren got in after him, closing the door with a creak.

               “But I thought you found EMF, or whatever?” Eren looked to Levi as the man started up the engine.

               He sighed, “I know, which is why we’re going to check out the post office after hours.”

               “Wait, after hours?”

-+-

               And this is how Eren found himself standing behind a crouching Levi at around midnight that night in in the brisk, cold air of October. They were no longer wearing their suits, but instead the clothes they had originally, Levi now wearing his leather jacket to fight the bite of the air.

               Eren’s hands were shoved in his jacket’s pockets, his nose slightly red and his cheeks dusted with blush from standing outside. Levi was currently picking the lock to the back door of the post office, his eyes laser focused on the two piece lock pick he was digging around with. With one final flick of the wrist, the lock clicked open.

               Levi got up from his crouch, carefully opening the door. It was dark inside save for the light of the moon flooding in through the windows. Both Eren and Levi had their guns holstered to them by the waistband of their jeans.

               Eren followed the man as he stepped silently inside, his eyes and ears scanning through the dark. Finding nothing, the raven reached into his pocket and took out a small flashlight. Light illuminated the small office as he clicked it on. Turning a corner, he silently motioned for Eren to stick close. He opened a door that was behind the desk, thinking it mighty convenient that it was unlocked. Putting that fact aside, he opened the door just as silently as he did the previous one, his footfalls expertly placed so they made no sound when he walked inside.

               Eren was right behind Levi the whole time, not wanting to get too far from the light source and be left in the dark. He almost stumbled on the man a few times, but Levi didn’t seem to notice.

               The man flicked the flashlight around the room before landing a several filing cabinets lined up on the back wall. He walked over, the light illuminating over the small labels on each drawer. Eventually reaching the M-P section, he grabbed the handle and opened it, the drawer making loud rustling sound.

               Levi placed the end of the flashlight in between his teeth, the light being shown directly on the various files inside. His fingers deftly flicked through them before he stopped at a Monroe, James. He quickly pulled the file from its slot, opening it up and flipping through a few papers inside.

               “What is that?” Eren asked in a low voice. Levi took the flashlight from his mouth, held in one hand as he read something on a piece of paper.

               “Employee records,” he responded in a similar tone of voice. His eyebrows scrunched together as he re-read it, not really believing it himself.

               “What is it?” Eren tried to look over the file onto the papers.

               “It says that he only worked here for just over six months, and he was already promoted to manager.” Levi put the open file on top of the open drawer, letting Eren get a look. “His wife told us he was well liked but,” he took a heavy breath in, “no one is _that_ well liked.” Humming to himself he closed the file once more and put it exactly where he found it. Closing the cabinet, he faced Eren again.

               “We should head back to the house, see if there was anything we missed.” The raven swiftly walked out the same way he walked in, Eren at his heels. Making their way to the door, Levi opened it and walked back out into the cold air once more, closing it when Eren walked out. Levi clicked the flashlight off, returning it to its pocket.

               The whole while Eren was watching Levi. The man seemed strangely at peace when he had a mission to accomplish. He observed his actions throughout the night trying to see if he could get what the man was thinking of next before he said anything. Eren thought back to what Levi told him about his dad being a hunter, and how he seemed to disconnected at the thought of his father. He also remembered Hanji telling him a very vague insight on Levi’s earlier years of his life. None of that ever seemed evident when the man was working, when he had a case to figure out. Eren found himself admiring this part of the man.

               Drawn back to reality by the sound of Levi’s car’s door opening, he realized he was just standing by the car, a distant look on his face. He looked up at the sound and saw Levi giving him a look of slight concern. He blinked and smiled in reassurance, opening his own door and sliding in. Levi took a moment before he got in himself, the engine grumbling to life as he closed his door and turned the keys in the ignition.

               The two drove down the quiet road, Eren looking out the window, a glazed look on his face as he thought. Levi glanced over at him several times before he finally spoke up, directing his gaze on the road.

               “What’s up kid? You’ve been staring into space since we left.”

               Eren hummed and his eyes came back into focus. “Oh, just tired I guess.” It wasn’t too far off from the truth, it was pretty late and he did get up earlier than he usually does. Levi nodded in understanding, continuing down the road.

               “Then we’ll find a place to stay the night.” They drove through town, Levi eventually pulling into a small motel. A few of the sign’s lights were out and the parking lot was nearly empty, but it was the only motel in town. Levi pulled up in a parking spot by the entrance, the engine cutting to a stop. As if on cue, Eren let out a big yawn, tears pricking his eyes. The pair got out, locking the doors.

               “Get the suits and the duffel that’s in the back, would ya?” Levi asked Eren who just sleepily nodded in response. Levi continued to the lobby entrance. There was a person sitting in an old office chair, their feet up on the desk reading a book. They peeked over the book’s top when the bell on top of the door jingled as Levi walked in. The man approached, pulling out his wallet.  The man at the desk moved his feet, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, smoke twirling around in the air.

               “Two bed, please.” Levi asked, pulling out a credit card under a false name. The man looked behind Levi outside at Eren still looking through the trunk of the car, and raised an eyebrow looking back at Levi. Mumbling a sarcastic ‘sure’ around his cigarette, he took Levi’s credit card, typing it into the computer.

               Outside, when Levi walked inside the building, Eren made his way to the trunk. Surprised that it was already opened, he easily popped it, eyes widening when he saw the contents.

               Weapons of various kinds were scattered throughout the trunk. There were several kinds of guns, bundles of daggers, a silver flask, wooden stakes, crucifixes, and containers of salt along with gas tanks. Eren quickly shot his head around to make sure no one was around to see the _highly_ illegal amount of firearms and other deadly objects in the trunk of the car. Shaking off the initial surprise, he fumbled through the trunk, trying not to disturb anything, finally grabbing the bag that had their suits and Levi’s duffel bag.

               Stringing the two on an elbow, he closed the trunk heading inside. The bell on the door jingled, announcing his presence. Levi looked to the door when he heard the noise, cold air spilling into the lobby.

               The man at the desk was finishing up getting the pair a room when Eren stepped up alongside Levi. The raven reached over, grabbing the heavy duffel from the boy and slinging it over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the desk man shoot glances between Levi and Eren and back again, but stopped once Levi shot him a small glare.

               The man shifted the cigarette in his mouth before handing back Levi his credit card and a key to one of the rooms. Levi said a thanks and walked out into the cold night once more, Eren at his heels. Eren sniffled as they walked down the rooms, finally stopping when they reached the number on their key.

               Levi quickly unlocked the door, not wanting to stand out in the cold any more than Eren did. He opened the door to a dark room, sliding his hand on the wall by the door till he reached a light switch. Eren walked in after him, going over to the small, round table that sat with a pair of chairs just off on the left wall. He placed the bag with their suits on the table, letting out another big yawn.

               The boy kicked off his shoes, stretching his arms above his head, dragging his feet over to the closer of the two beds. He let out an audible huff as he flopped face first into the bed, the springs squeaking under the slight weight. Levi watched the boy as he bent over, pushing Eren’s shoes out of the middle of the floor. He went to the empty bed, setting his duffel bag by his feet as he worked on the laces to his boots.

               Eren was facing him, his eyes closed. Levi didn’t blame him; he had a long day and there was a lot to take in in a short amount of time. Finally freeing himself of his boots, he pulled off his black over shirt so he just had on his grey shirt from earlier and his jeans.

               He reached over, unzipping his bag and pulling out his laptop. Resting his back on the headrest of the bed, he sat the laptop on his legs as it started up. Eren opened his eyes slightly, glancing at the raven with tired eyes before shifted his head so he could talk less muffled.

               “Aren’t you going to bed?” he asked, closing his eyes again.

               “Eventually.” Was all Levi said in response. The boy groaned back, rolling on his side and curling into slight ball, sleep quickly taking him afterwards. Levi looked over at the sleeping brunet when he started to hear soft snoring. The kid had one arm folded under his head, the other laid in front of his face which had a peaceful mask on. Levi didn’t notice the small smile on his face.

-+-

               The next morning, Eren woke up, sprawled out across the bed, a foot hanging off the side. He wasn’t fully aware of where he was, just assuming he was back at the bunker. But as he shifted around, feeling out his surroundings, he woke with a start, eyes fluttering open, head jerking up.

               Eren looked around the motel room, finding himself alone. The bed next to him was already made, Levi’s boots gone. The brunet eventually sat up, clicking a few cricks out of his neck before he pushed up from the bed. The room was empty and eerily quiet. Had Levi left him?

               Eren felt the tiniest bit of fear creep up on him when he had the thought, but quickly pushed it down, slipping into his shoes. He walked to the door of the room, opening and looking outside. He took a breath of relief when he discovered the Levi in fact did _not_ leave Eren, and that he was resting on the wall of the motel, a cigarette between his fingers.

               Levi looked over at the boy when he walked outside with him.

               “Morning, sunshine.” He took another drag, letting the smoke out slowly.

               “Hmm mornin’.” Eren ran a hand through his messy chestnut hair, watching the smoke leave Levi’s mouth. “Those’ll kill ya, you know.” He said, nodding his head to the cancer stick now hanging in Levi’s mouth. Grey eyes looked over at Eren, an eyebrow raised. Levi shrugged, pulling it from his teeth again.

               “We all die sometime.”

               Eren snorted at the man’s answer, a small smile on his face when he put his hands in his pockets. Getting to the end, Levi snuffed it out on an ashtray and flicked it into the small container underneath it. He turned to Eren again.

               “Today we’re going to scope out the house, wait till Mrs. Monroe leaves. I need to double check something.”

               “Wait so we’re just going to break into her house? In broad daylight?” Eren asked, a bit surprised at the agenda for the day.

               Levi looked at him strangely. “Yes,” he drew out, like it was the stupidest question in the world. Eren mumbled a ‘of course not why wouldn’t we’ when Levi walked by him back into the room. The brunet followed him, watching from the entryway as Levi got his things.

               “Do you have everything you brought?” the man asked, not looking to Eren as he zipped up his duffel bag. Eren nodded, going over to the table where their suits sat and picked up the bag. Levi started off to the door, the keys in his hand, and his bag over his shoulder. Eren walked out, Levi turning to the closed door and locking it, before the two walked side by side to the lobby once more.

               The man handed Eren his bag, asking him to put it in the trunk for him. Eren complied, taking the duffel and the car keys that Levi held out to him. They split up, Levi going straight for the lobby and Eren turning off to the car.

               Eren cautiously opened the trunk once more, able to see more of it’s contents now that it was light out. He placed the bags in the spots he found them the night before, closing the trunk with a clunk. He locked it with the keys, going over to the passenger’s side of the car, unlocking that as well. Once he reached over and unlocked the driver’s door, Levi walked out of the lobby.

               Once he was in the car and the car pulled out of the parking spot, Eren spoke up.

               “What exactly are you re-checking exactly?” Eren’s eyes were on the road.

               “I have my suspicions, but I just need to make sure.” Eren sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get a much better answer than the cryptic one he was given.

               Soon, the car rumbled into the neighborhood they were at the previous day. Levi parked a far ways off, but still able to see the house where the murder had happened. The police tape was cleared off and no one lingered around anymore.

               Levi turned off the car, the silence started to ring. Eren turned to Levi.

               “Let’s play 20 questions.” The brunet said, curling his arms in his lap. Levi looked over, an eyebrow raised, sending him a ‘really?’ look. Eren sighed. “Come on it’ll pass time.” Levi blinked slowly, turning his head back on the house. Eren took it as a hesitant acceptance.

               “Okay,” the brunet started, “what’s your favorite color?”

               “Green. Cats or dogs?”

               “Hmm, dogs. Where are you from?”

               “France.”

               “Woah, really?” Eren asked, his eyes widening slightly. Levi nodded looking over at Eren again. “Do you know any French?” Levi nodded again. “Say something.”

               “Maybe another time,” Eren pouted. “Fine, your turn.”

               “Hold on a sec,” Levi was looking back out to the house again, Eren following his gaze. The front door to the house opened, the blonde Mrs. Monroe walking out. She had her bag hung on her elbow as she unlocked the door to her car and slid in. Moments later, the car was backing out, and she drove down the street.

               “Well that’s convenient.” Eren mumbled under his breath. Levi got out of the car, Eren fumbling to do the same. The pair closed their doors, Levi looking around the quiet neighborhood before nonchalantly walking across the street to the house. Eren jogged after him until he caught up, walking besides the man as they hopped up the few stairs of the porch.

               Levi pulled his hands from his jacket’s pockets, his lock pick in his hands. Standing close to the door, he quickly picked the lock to the front door, an audible click when it opened. Swiftly, the two slid in, closing the door behind them. Levi returned his lock pick, looking around the house. He had got a basic lay out of the house when they had questioned the wife, making sure to see if anyone else lived there.

               “So what was it that you were looking for?” Eren asked, following Levi as he walked through the entryway. They stood in between the kitchen and living room.

               “Check in the living room, I’ll check the kitchen.” Levi paced over to the room.

               “What exactly am I looking for?”

               Levi was looking through the kitchen, not looking at Eren as he answered. “Just look around crooks and crannies for anything that might seem out of the ordinary.”

               Eren huffed, turning towards the living room. He stalked in, going over to the fireplace on the far wall. He looked over picture frames, under the small ledge of the shelf, and even in the fireplace itself. Finding nothing, he moved over to the chair on the other side of the coffee table. He stuffed his hand down the cushion, only finding spare change and a battery. Finding no luck there, he finally turned to the couch that he and Levi sat on the other day. He examined under the cushions, before getting down on his hands and knees, peering under the couch.

               His eyebrows furrowed when he saw something poking out from one of the wooden bars that held up the couch.

               “What the?” he mumbled, his hand trying to dislodge it. After getting it loose, it fell into his hand. Eren got back up on his feet, teal eyes not leaving the object in his hand. It was a brown, fabric bag about the size of his hand. It seemed to be holding something round from its spherical shape. It was bound together by what seemed like twine, and on the front of the bag was an odd looking symbol drawn in red.

               “Uh, hey, Levi,” the raven turned his head to Eren, “I think I found something?” Levi walked over to him. Eren held out the bag to Levi who only hummed to himself, turning it around in his hand.

               “I thought so.” The raven mumbled.

               “What is it?”

               “A hex-bag,” Levi sighed, “Witches use these to set curses on people and various things like tha-“ Levi was cut off as he was flung back first into the wall of the living room.

               “Levi?!” Eren started over to the crumbled man but stopped when he saw someone standing in between the kitchen and the living room.

               It was Mrs. Monroe, she facing Eren and glaring daggers at the young man.

               Eren was frozen, but his head whipped over to the sound of Levi coughing as he got on his knees and elbows. The wall where he was thrown into was slightly cracked with the amount of force he was thrown with.

               “I should’ve known you two were hunters,” Mrs. Monroe growled. She took a step closer to Eren, raising her head slightly. Eren watched, wide eyed, his mouth slightly agape in shock. “Aw, what’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

               Levi finally heaved himself to his feet, the glare directed at the woman was downright terrifying. The woman must’ve found amusing, however, since she only smirked back. In a blink of an eye, Levi whipped his hands around to the gun that holstered in his jean’s waistbands. But before he could grab it, Mrs. Monroe threw her hand out in front of her, and Levi was slammed into the wall again, this time sticking there as she held her hand up.

               “Ah, ah, ah. That is no way to treat a hostess.” Levi squirmed in her hold, fidgeting against the wall. Eren’s eyes shot between the two, his shoulders hunching in on themselves, trying to disappear. Mrs. Monroe’s glare was now directed at Eren.

               Eren found himself looking back at Levi. He saw the man pointing with his eyes at the coffee table in front of the boy. On it was small vase that held a couple of flowers. Getting the message, Eren lunged for the vase.

               The woman saw Eren’s movements, and she flung out her free arm. Eren flinched as he saw her hand fly out in front of her, waiting for the impending crunch of his body against the wall.

               After nothing had happened, he opened his eyes slowly, looking up at Mrs. Monroe. Her glare faltered when Eren didn’t go flying. She pulled her arm back before pushing out again towards Eren, her face dropping when nothing happened once again. She seemed to be scared.

               “What are you,” she murmured, eyes widening at Eren. The boy took this opportunity, grabbing the vase, the flowers and water dumping out as he did so, jumping over the coffee table, and reaching the woman, all within a half of a blink of an eye. She gasped when she noticed how close Eren was to her now, but was cut off when Eren swung the vase at her head, it shattering upon impact.

               Her head cracked around, her body going limp and falling to the ground.

               Levi let out a gasp as he was let free, he feet hitting the ground. He breathed heavily, leaning on the wall with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Finally getting his panting under control, he looked over at Eren who still had the shattered vase in his hands. The boy was looking down at the woman at his feet. Taking one last heavy breath, he got up, walking over to Eren.

               When he reached him, he saw Mrs. Monroe, splayed out on the hardwood floors, glass in the side of her head and a small pool of blood starting to form.

               Eren’s hands were shaking. The one that held the vase gripped the broken glass with white-knuckle force. Levi looked down at Eren’s hand, taking his focus off of the body momentarily.

               “Eren, you’re bleeding.” The boy seemed to be pulled from whatever daze he was just in and looked down at the hand Levi was gesturing at. With gentle hands, Levi took Eren’s wrist in his hand, the other one curling around the fingers that dug into the broken glass. Gently coaxing Eren’s hand to let go, he took the vase from him, placing it elsewhere.

               The glass cut open several parts of his hand, but nothing seemed too serious. Levi almost had to do a double take when each of the gashes healed up right before his eyes. Levi turned Eren’s hand around in his, rubbing at the blood on his hand, but finding no evidence he had been hurt.

               Levi looked back up at Eren, his hand still in Levi’s. Eren’s now hazy teal eyes looked unseeingly at his hand in Levi’s. He was obviously shaken up about what he just did.

               Taking a bandana from his pocket, he carefully wiped Eren’s hand clean of his blood. Afterwards, he put the bandana back, but didn’t let go of his hand.

               “Eren, hey, Eren,” Levi lifted the boy’s chin up so he was looking at him, “Stay with me alright?” The boy nodded slightly in response. “Good, now, go take a seat on the couch, and don’t touch anything, alright? Can you do that for me?” Levi spoke in the voice that he had spoken to Eren the night they had met, and it calmed Eren’s nerves significantly.

               Levi led Eren to the couch, reluctantly letting go of his hand and going to work. He quickly went around the living room, wiping down areas Eren had touched, and doing the same in the kitchen. When he was finished, he tip toed over the now moderately sized pool of blood around Mrs. Monroe’s head, walking over to Eren. The boy seemed a little bit more back to earth now, and he stopped in front of him.

               Eren’s head raised, his teal eyes big with fear. Levi held out his hand for Eren to take, and pulled the boy to his feet.

               “Follow me.” The man led Eren to the back sliding door. He opened it with his jacket sleeve covering the handle, leading the two outside. He pushed the door closed, glancing at Eren, who seemed for the most part, back in reality. Levi motioned over his shoulder to follow him as he walked over to the wooden fence on the other side of the yard.

               “Alright, I’m going to hoist you up, and you need to crawl over.” Levi knelt by the fence, threading his fingers together to create a little foot hold.

               “But what about you, how are you going to get over?” Eren spoke up.

               “I think I’ll manage,” Levi motioned for Eren to hurry up. The boy hesitantly put a foot on Levi’s hand. The man grimaced as the bottom of his shoe was placed on his hands, but wasted no time in raising the boy up enough until he was able to swing a leg over. Eren’s foot left Levi’s hands as he swung completely over the fence. On the other side, Levi heard Eren land with a loud thud.

               Mumbling ‘graceful’ sarcastically under his breath, he slid his arms out of his jacket, flinging it over the fence. Exhaling sharply, he jumped up to the top of the fence, grabbing on his both hands. He seemed to effortlessly pull himself up, throwing a leg over and then another, before landing on the other side silently.

               He dusted off his shirt, looking back at Eren. The boy was looking at him with big teal saucers for eyes, his eyebrows raised impressed. Levi gave him a confused look.

               “Dude, you’re like a ninja.” Levi rolled his eyes, reaching down and grabbing his jacket. He turned to leave, putting his leather jacket back on again. Eren paced quickly up to him until he was walking aside Levi.

               The two walked through an open space along one big fence, passing several houses. Finally reaching the end, Levi led them around the block until the car came into view. They both walked briskly to the car, not hesitating to get in quickly.

               Once inside, Levi pulled out his phone, dialing 911. He posed as a neighbor that happened to stumble across Mrs. Monroe’s body when they came for a visit. Eren sat back and watched, impressed by Levi’s acting skills. Ending the call, Levi sighed, pocketing his phone once again. He put the keys in the ignition, turning the car on before turning to face Eren.

               “Well, congratulations, kid, you just survived your first hunt.” Levi put the car in drive and sped off out of the neighborhood once more.

-+-

               It had been cloudy all day with a grey blanket of clouds blocking out the sun. It started to get darker as it neared nighttime. Eren was silent the whole drive home, his view focused on the road ahead. He was unusually silent, which slightly disturbed Levi.

               After one, long, silent drive later, Levi finally pulled up to the bunker. The sun had fallen completely, and the clouds started to dissipate, letting the big moon shine through.

               Levi turned off the car, exhaling heavily as he got out of the car. It was only when Levi walked to the front of the car did Eren get out. He had that distant look on his face as he stared at the ground in front of him after he closed the car door.

               Levi’s eyebrows scrunched together. “You alright?”

               And that was when Eren broke. It started out as just a few tears blurring his vison before they were falling down his cheeks, falling freely. He opened his mouth in a shuddering inhale. Levi quickly went to the boy, cursing under his breath when he saw the tears.

               “Wha- hey, don’t cry- shit.” Levi had no idea what to do at these moments. He hovered his hands around the boy’s shaking shoulders. The boy sniffled before letting out a muffled sob that sounded more like a whimper. Levi, growling to himself, just wrapped his arms around the trembling brunet, his arms underneath Eren’s, one of his hands pushing Eren’s face to his shoulder.

               Eren took in a sharp inhale at the sudden embrace, wondering if he was imagining it or not. His sobs stopped momentarily as he lifted his arms. He let out another sob muffled by Levi’s shoulder and said to hell with it, and wrapped his arms around Levi in return.

                Eren could feel Levi’s hand carding through his messy, chestnut hair, the thumb on the other hand rubbing soothing circles on Eren’s shoulder.

               Levi found himself ‘shh’ing the wrecked mess in his arms, spewing calming words he didn’t know he was even capable of saying. Soon, Eren’s sobs were interrupted by the boy’s muffled speech.

               “I-I killed her. I killed her.” He repeated the mantra in Levi’s shoulder, his arms squeezing the raven more so.

               “She was a witch, Eren. Okay, it’s not your fault. You did what you had to do.” Levi spoke lowly into Eren’s ear, feeling the brunet’s embrace tighten.

               “But she’s dead. She’s dead because of me.”

               “Hey,” Levi pulled back from Eren, placing both of his hands on either side of the boy’s face, making him face Levi. “You’re alive, aren’t you? I’m alive. That could’ve been a very different story if you didn’t do what you had too, Eren.” Eren had stopped his sobs now, his face tear stained and his eyed red. He hiccupped as a few stray tears fell again. Levi’s thumb swiped out across the boy’s face, wiping the rebel tears from his face, before just softly caressing Eren’s cheekbone.

               Levi’s hands fell from Eren’s face slowly once Eren had started breathing a bit more regularly now. The boy sniffled one more time before the raven took a step back. Eren used the sleeve of his hoodie to dry his face.

               “Come on,” Levi started, beginning to turn back to the bunker, “It’s late, let’s go in.” A small smile found its way onto Eren’s face and he nodded, following the man back into the bunker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo angsty fluff, doesn't everyone love that.
> 
> It may be a couple of days before I upload the next chapter, I haven't been feeling the greatest lately and I've just had a shit-ton of things to get done. So, I apologize in advance.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets more symptoms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty much just one big hurt/comfort chapter. This is certainly not my favorite chapter, but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It was only supposed to be a quick job.

               Levi found a small case just outside the nearest town, Eren insisting on going with him. Every clue and every sign pointed towards a shape shifter, but that was quickly proven wrong.

               Levi was on his back laying on the dirty barn floor, his vision slowly fading. Eren stood a few paces from him, his eyes wide in fear, his breaths shaky. In front of the boy stood the thing. It had lured the two into the barn and wasted no time in trying to kill the hunters.

               The demon stood in front of a terrified Eren, it’s eyes flicked black.

               “Er…en.” He reached his hand out to the boy, feeling consciousness fading from him. The black eyed demon let out a feral growl, thrusting it’s hand out.

               Eren let out a gasp of pain, his mouth agape. The demon’s arm was thrusted into the boy’s chest, slowly twisting.

               A gurgly cough left the boy’s mouth as a small stream of red dripped from the corner of his mouth.

               Levi’s heart stopped. His grey eyes wide in shock. Eren turned his head slowly to the man on the floor, a tear escaping his cerulean eyes.

               Suddenly, the demon tore his hand from the boy’s chest, red dripping down his arm as his hand cradled the boy’s heart, it’s beats feeble then stopping all together.

               Eren’s face froze, slowly dropping to his knees before falling to his side. Everything sounded like it was underwater as he watched the demon murder Eren right before his eyes. He could hear someone crying out. Was that him? His face felt wet and his throat burned.

               The demon let the boy’s heart slide out of it’s hand, falling to the barn floor. Levi’s hand was still outstretched to the dead boy by him. The demon’s eyes flashed back, walking to Levi.

               Levi didn’t care. He didn’t care if he met the same fate at that moment. He had just failed again in protecting the one person who mattered most to him.

               He didn’t care if he died.

               He invited it.

               The demon stopped, looking down at the tear-stained face of the hunter. A smirk cracked along it’s face. Levi watched Eren’s blood drip from it’s hand. His eyes closed, waiting for death.

               He let another tear fall as nothing happened for a few moments. His red eyes slowly opened again. The demon was gone, not a trace left of the beast. Levi let out a choked sob in frustration, his gaze slowly going back to Eren.

               The boy was still looking to Levi, his face frozen in fear, blood heavily pooling around him.

               Levi rolled onto his stomach; both of his legs were severely injured, probably broken. He used his elbows, crawling across the filthy, cold barn floor. He crawled over to Eren’s limp body, through the boy’s blood. He sat up when he got him, his nerves shot.

               With shaky hands, Levi cradled Eren’s head. He took a hand, gently going over the boy’s face, closing his once beautiful eyes.

               Levi sat, staring unseeingly at Eren’s now peaceful face, breathing shaky breaths. The raven could feel one tear slide down his face, then two, then three until there was a stream down his dirty, blood stained face.

               And as if all of the events that just happened suddenly hit Levi, the man broke.

               He curled over Eren, clutching the boy’s head to his chest, winding his other hand around the boy’s body, crushing him against the man, his face hidden in Eren’s hair. Levi let silent tears fall as he rocked both of them. He let out a cough, taking a wheezy breath in. He raised his head to the open roof above him, the moon peering down at them, and he screamed.

               It was the sound of anguish; the sound of a broken man, able to send shivers down anyone’s spine who heard it.

               He screamed with frustration, with pent up anger at the world, and with complete and utter despair.

               His throat now completely raw, he dropped his head down once more. He brought Eren’s head closer, gently pressing his lips to the boy’s forehead. Levi sat like that, breathing in the scent of the boy and the copious amount of blood around them.

               A shaky hand reluctantly left it’s clutch on Eren, going around to the gun that was holstered on Levi. Pulling his face away from Eren, he pressed the cold barrel against his temple. He took a deep, shaky breath in, closing his eyes. He pulled the trigger.

-+-

               Levi woke up with a sharp gasp, shooting up into a sitting position. His breathing was heavy as he clutched the sheets underneath him.

               He swallowed thickly, quickly gaining his bearings. He was in the bunker. He was safe, and so was Eren.

               The raven had woken up in a cold sweat, which he quickly learned after running a hand through his hair. He rubbed his face with both of his hands, his breaths subsiding back to normal. He sniffled, rubbing his eyes.

               Looking over at the clock, he was met with a blinking 3:27. He sighed, slowly lowering himself back to lie down again. The raven lay in the dark room, staring at the ceiling above him.

               Pictures of Eren’s dead eyes kept flashing in front of Levi. He could almost smell the blood even now. He sighed, throwing an arm over his eyes, trying to think of something else. Eventually his mind cleared, and he was teetering on the edge of sleep until he heard a scream from the room near his.

-+-

               As soon as the two had gone inside the bunker, Eren excused himself to his room. He was physically, and now emotionally, exhausted at this point, and all he wanted to do was to flop down on his bed and sleep for a week.

               After taking off his shoes and pants, he slipped on a pair of sweatpants and crawled into bed. Not soon after he was in a deep, dreamless sleep. But in his quiet sleep, he heard someone calling to him.

               “Eren.” The whisper seemed to be moving all around him, calling out his name repeatedly. His brows scrunched together and he groaned in protest, swatting his hand in the air, his eyes still closed. The voice became louder, and there seemed to be a few more voices joining the on. They all had the same sound, high pitched and even.

               He rolled onto his stomach, taking his pillow and stuffing it over his head in hopes of blocking out whoever was calling him. This seemed to only anger the voices as they grew in intensity. They seemed closer now, flying around his path of hearing.

               As they increased, a sharp, ringing noise joined them. It started out as a tinny sound, until it grew into an almost ear-splitting ring. He shot up, his eyes frantically searching the empty room for the source. He yelped, shoving his hands against his ears trying to block out the noise.

               Eren swung his legs to the edge of the bed and stood. The ringing was blaring loud now, the voices screaming his name. His legs seemed to give out, and he slid down to sit on the floor by the bed. He sat in a fetal position; eyes clenched shut and hands clamped down over his ears.

               The boy’s head started to pound with pain at the cacophony of sound swirling around him. The sound was suffocating, it seemed to be an entity in itself, wrapping around Eren, enclosing over him. He gasped, struggling for breath until he let out a scream.

               It was muffled by the sounds around him. He wasn’t even sure if he was screaming very loudly or not, but his throat started to burn as he let out another wail of distress.

               As soon as Levi had heard the scream, he grabbed the loaded handgun under his pillow, sprinting down to Eren’s door when he recognized the boy’s voice. He threw open the door, expecting Eren to be under attack. He had his gun in front of him, a finger on the trigger.

               He hesitated when he saw that Eren was alone on the floor. The boy was curled up in a tight ball, slightly rocking on his heels. The boy had tears pricking his eyes when he let out another half-hearted sob-cry.

               Levi put the gun away and ran the curled up brunet. He stopped, crouching on one knee in front of Eren. He placed his hands on Eren’s cheeks, trying to get Eren to open his eyes.

               “Hey, Eren, look at me.” The man’s words seemed to go unheard by the brunet as he continued his rocking with his eyes closed. Levi patted the side of Eren’s face. Nothing seemed to get through whatever was prohibiting Eren from hearing Levi.

               “Eren!” Levi yelled at the boy, a hand now shaking his shoulder, “Look at me Eren!”

               Eren’s eyebrows closed together in confusion. A new voice had joined, this one different from the ones screaming at him. It wasn’t foreboding like the other ones, it was... concerned? The veil of ringing seemed to falter as he heard the new voice.

               Slowly, his eyes opened. He nearly had a heart attack when someone was right in front of him, however. Pushing away the initial surprise, he realized it was Levi. The raven stopped yelling when Eren had opened his eyes, one hand on the boy’s cheek, another on his shoulder.

               Eren took his hands from his ears and leaned forward, whipping his arms around the man. He buried his face in his chest, trying to block out the sounds. Levi was a little stunned at the sudden contact, but found himself clutching the brunet to him anyways. He placed a hand on the back of the boy’s head, his fingers threading through the messy, chestnut locks. Eren breathed audible, shaky breaths into the man’s chest, the raven’s tank top getting wet with tears.  

               As if almost a spell was lifted, the voices retreated when Eren found refuge clinging onto Levi like a life line, the ringing leaving with it. Eren took a gasp of air when the entity stopped closing in on him, and he panted, trying to get oxygen in his lungs. Soon the sound had dissipated all together, and Eren could hear the words Levi was mumbling into his hair.

               “-t’s okay, Eren, I’m here. There’s no one here but me and you; no one’s going to hurt you.” Eren could feel Levi rocking them as Eren got his senses together. He sniffled, subconsciously nuzzling closer into the man’s hold, and gripped the back of Levi’s tank top.

               Levi whipped his head to the door way when two figures slid into view. Erwin and Hanji stood there in their pajamas, guns out in front of them. They stopped when they saw Eren clutching onto Levi and Levi in turn trying to soothe the boy’s frazzled nerves. Hanji looked to Levi, who just shook his head in return. Hanji put her gun down and Erwin followed suit.

               Sensing that the two should have a moment to themselves, Hanji put a hand on Erwin’s back, gently ushering him back to their room.

               Once the two had left down the hall, Levi turned back to Eren. The boy was quiet now, but he was still shaking slightly. Levi lessened his grip on him, and started to lean back.

               Eren wanted to whimper at the feeling of being pulled from Levi’s hold, but let go anyway. His red eyes looked up at Levi. The man’s mask was gone now, genuine concern painted on his face instead. Eren sniffled and wiped a tear with the back of his hand.

               The hand that was holding Eren’s head had dropped off the boy, but the other one was now holding his elbow, for which Eren was grateful for. Levi waited for the brunet to get grounded again before speaking.

               “What happened, Eren?” his voice was uncharacteristically gentle, in fears of rousing the boy again. His head tilted, grey eyes watching Eren rub his eye.

               “I-I don’t really know,” his voice was scratchy from his screaming. He sniffled.

               “It seemed like you couldn’t hear me,” Levi said after a few moments, “Why was that?”

               Eren swallowed thickly, head hurting just thinking about it. “Uh, there was this-“ Eren sniffled again, trying to get his thoughts together, “Ringing.” He waved his hand by his ear slightly, eyes shut, jaw clenching. “Like, really, _really_ , loud ringing.”

               “Was that it?”

               “No, no.” Eren shook his head, eyes opening but looking down. “Voices.” He mumbled.

               “Voices?” the boy nodded. “Could you hear what they were saying?” Another nod.

               “They-“ Eren exhaled heavily. “They kept saying my name.” His eyes finally met Levi’s when he looked up. “Just over and over, it kept calling to me.”

               Levi’s brows scrunched. “It?”

               The boy swallowed again. “It was like it was closing me in just-“ he motioned his hands down towards his head, explaining the suffocating feeling. “It felt like I was drowning.” He could feel his eyes start to well with tears again.

               Levi was quiet as he looked over the boy’s face, his thumb on the boy’s elbow, rubbing circles into his skin.

               “Well you’re safe now,” his eyes met Eren’s, “Come on,” he started gently pulling the boy’s elbow as he stood, Eren following suit. Levi led the brunet to sit back down on the bed, pulling back the sheet. Eren slid in, lying on his side as his head hit the pillow. Levi’s hand never left Eren’s arms as he pulled up the sheets to Eren’s chin, cocooning him in.

               Eren seemed to be in a daze as Levi tucked him in, staring at the floor. Levi pushed a tuft of hair out of Eren’s face and let go of him, turning around to leave.

               When Eren found the absence of Levi’s presence, he shot back to reality. In fear of the voices returning, he shot an arm out from the sheets and flung it out towards the retreating figure. Eren’s hand clamped down on Levi’s wrist, holding him back.

               Levi looked at his wrist before looking at Eren, who looked at him with frightened eyes.

               “Stay with me. Please.” Eren’s voice was small and vulnerable, his teal eyes begging Levi to stay. Levi looked at him for a moment before nodding. The fear in Eren seemed to alleviate slightly at the man’s answer and he scooted over.

               Levi went over to the side of the bed before sitting on the mattress. He leaned back, half sitting, half laying, and rested against the headrest. He looked down at the brunet who seemed more content than he had been previously.

               Eren could feel sleep drag him off again, and he subconsciously nuzzled into the side of Levi, one of his hands curled up on the man’s stomach, his forehead pressed into his side. Levi watched Eren fall asleep, snuggled up to his side. Without noticing, one of his hands found it’s way to Eren’s hair, smoothing it down and playing with a strand.

               Flashbacks of his dream and Eren curled up on the floor kept flashing at Levi as he sat in the dark. Both showed the expression of fear of the boy’s tear stained face. Levi’s jaw clenched at the memory.

               That night, he swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to protect the sleeping brunet that was curled up in his side.

-+-

               Levi’s eyes opened slightly early next morning, surprised that he had actually had a peaceful sleep. He shifted to roll over, but was held back by a weight on him. Eyes shooting open, he whipped his head over to see.

               Levi was still in his half-laying half-sitting position resting against the headboard of the bed. A bundle of messy chestnut hair lay on his chest, an arm thrown over the man’s stomach. Levi watched Eren’s chest rise and fall with every breath he took, his eyes closed as he slept. Levi let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and relaxed.

               He ran a hand through his hair, checking the alarm clock. 7:13 looked back at him. He carefully grabbed the wrist of the arm that was thrown over him and gently peeled it off of him. Eren shifted slightly from the small disturbance, but remained asleep. Once he was still again, Levi moved a leg off of the bed, putting his foot on the floor.

               He held Eren’s head and lightly lifted it off of him and then back on the pillow as he slid out from underneath. As he was free, Levi adjusted the sheets on Eren before leaving the room.

                 Sighing heavily, he padded down the hallway and through the map room until he reached the study. Sitting at one of the tables, Erwin and Hanji drank their coffee, Erwin on his laptop. The hunters’ heads looked up when the raven entered the archway. Hanji’s expression softened as Levi walked in, plopping in a seat by them.

               “How is he?” Erwin asked, now directing his attention on Levi.

               “Asleep, for the moment,” Levi shrugged.

               “Do you know what happened?” Hanji asked when she put down her mug.

               “I’m not even sure _he_ knows what happened,” Levi sighed, looking off into space, “But whatever it was it shook him up pretty badly.” The raven leaned back in his seat, picking at a spot on the table with his nail. “He said that he was hearing voices.”

               “Voices?” the blond asked.

               “Yeah, and like a high pitched ringing.” Levi rubbed his face. “But the way he described it was almost like it was an actual thing, like it was in the room with him. He said it was suffocating him, almost. Like he was drowning.”

               Hanji stared intently at the table, thinking.

               “Maybe it’s a side effect from whatever he is. Maybe this is another symptom of changing.” She tapped her chin with a finger, trying to mentally put it all together. She shot up suddenly, walking over to a shelf and grabbed a notebook. She flipped to a blank page as she walked back over and sat on the table. Hanji grabbed a pen that was sitting by Erwin and clicked it before scribbling something down.

               Erwin peered over the notebook’s edge, trying to catch a peek at what she was writing.

               “So,” she began, tapping the notebook repeatedly with the pen, “we have enhanced healing and hearing ringing and voices.” She chewed the end of the pen, looking over to Levi once more. “What were the voices saying, if anything?”

               “Just his name, over and over.” Levi crossed his arms against his chest, the brunette sitting on the table’s eyes calculative.

               She turned to look down at Erwin now. “Does this sound like anything we’ve encountered before?”

               Erwin’s brows scrunched before he shrugged. Hanji sighed.

               “We’re not going to get any idea of what he is until he figures it out for himself first. We’re just as in the dark as him.” Levi spoke up. “We’ll just keep an eye on him until he does, and then we’ll deal with it accordingly.” The raven stood, shooting one more glance at the two before heading to the kitchen.

               As soon as the man was gone, Hanji looked down at Erwin with a knowing look, to which he responded with a nod. The blond got up as well.

               “I’ll go talk to him.” Hanji smiled lightly in response as he walked off after the raven.

               Levi was making another pot of coffee as Erwin entered, his back turned to the blonde. Levi heard Erwin’s heavy footsteps behind him and goes to rest against the counter. They were silent for a moment, both waiting for the other to say something.

               “If you need to say something Erwin, just say it.” Levi broke the silence, not looking over.

               “We’re all concerned for him, Levi.” The blond said after a few moments, “It’s incredibly unfortunate that he got in this mess, but all we can do now is wait. You know that, right?”

               Levi turned to him. “Of course I know that,” he said harshly, jaw clenching.

               “I know you care about him, Levi.” Levi looked away. “But whatever he is, may be dangerous. It may come to that we have no choice but to-“

               “You don’t think I don’t know that?!” Levi growled. He huffed. “I know what monsters look like, Erwin, and he is not one of them.” The raven turned fully over to look at the taller male. “Right now, he is just a scared kid who never should’ve been in that library from the start.” He stepped closer to Erwin, glaring up at him. “And it sure as hell doesn’t help that we have as much of an idea as he does as to what he’s turning into.” He was almost right up against Erwin as he finished. He sent one more glare Erwin’s way before turning and walking to the archway.

               “He reminds you of her, doesn’t he?” Levi froze. “I saw it too, as soon as I looked at him.” Levi swallowed thickly, closing his eyes. “He’s got her eyes.” Levi clenched his fists and stormed out.

               Levi zipped through the hallway until he reached his room. He closed the door with more force than necessary, and started pacing back and forth across his room. The raven took deep breathes, trying his hardest not to go back out there and pound Erwin’s face in. He knew that was a highly sensitive topic for Levi, and he knew what he was doing to him when he mentioned it.

               Letting out one more breath, he went back out into the hallway, heading down the opposite direction.

               Soon he reached the end and opened the door, walking into the weight room. The old, dim, yellowish light filled the space as the raven went over to the wall off to the side.

               Under one of the shelves the weights sat, he pulled out a tackle box. Flipping up the latch and then the top, he dug around the contents before pulling out a roll of wrap.

               Haphazardly shoving the box back into it’s spot, he took the roll and began wrapping his hands tightly. He tore it with his teeth and dropped the roll onto the floor when he was finished.

               He flexed his fists a few times, getting the wrap situated on his hands as walked across the room to a large, black bag hanging from a hook on the ceiling.

               Levi took his spot in front of the punching bag, raising his fists.

               One hit, dust flew from the bag and shuddered away from the impact. Two hits, it swayed, an indent in the side. Levi’s fists then, flying at the bag as it jolted with each hit. His knuckles burned and ached but he kept going, breaths becoming ragged as he let loose on the bag. His nails dug into the palms of his hands when he hit with abandon. The bag was now it almost constant motion as he rained down on it, hitting it this way and that.  

               A growl left his clenched jaw as he roundhouse kicked the bag, a sharp slapping noise spilling  into the otherwise quiet room upon impact. His chest heaved as he got his bearings once more and lowered his fists. The bag slowed from it’s swaying until it stopped to rest once more.

               Levi panted and he looked down at his hands. The wrapping around his knuckles was filthy with dust and speckled with blood. He sighed.

               His fists protested as he clenched them, a sharp ache shooting through them. Getting his breathing back to normal again, he began to unwrap his hands while walking away from the bag.

               He peeled back the wrap completely, his knuckles starting to turn black and blue with bruises, a few cuts laid out on them. He sighed, tossing the dirty wrappings in a small trash can by the door.

               The lights were turned off as the raven left the room, his nerves more settled than before.

               Levi walked with heavy footsteps down the quiet hallway, stopping when he opened his room door again.

               The man let out a huff as he flopped down on his back onto his bed, the springs protesting. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, his hands resting on his stomach.

               He closed his eyes, one of his hands leaving his stomach and going to pinch the bridge of his nose.

               He knew Erwin was right. They had no idea what Eren was, and he seemed to be turning at a steady pace. The fact that the boy was not affected by the witch’s powers didn’t escape Levi, and it certainly didn’t help his case. Eren was something that none of them had dealt with before; they couldn’t even find any solid lore on it.

               Everything the trio had checked on his symptoms didn’t match up with anything, and not knowing disgruntled the raven.

               Levi couldn’t imagine what Eren must’ve felt like about this. The boy must be terrified. First he gets attacked by a vampire right out of the bat, held hostage for a while, and then all of the sudden he learns that he’s not human. Levi almost wanted to laugh at the notion that Eren was a monster.

               Knowing that laying around thinking about it certainly wasn’t going to get anything done, he pulled himself up off of the bed, walking over to the adjoined bathroom in his room and went to take a shower.

-+-

               Swollen, teal eyes cracked open. A dull ache throbbed through his head. Eren groaned and he shifted so his face was in the pillow.

               He didn’t want to deal with the responsibilities of being conscious that day, but life had other plans for him when his door was opened.

               His eyes opened at the creak of his door opening, but quickly clamped shut again when the light from the hallway pooled into his room.

               “Oh good you’re awake!” Eren pulled the blanket over his head when Hanji entered his room. Unfazed by the boy’s protest, she hummed as she walked in over to the sleeping lump under the covers. The top of Eren’s head peeked out, his eyes on Hanji.

               “Heard about you’re little episode last night,” the brunette seated herself at the foot of Eren’s bed, looking over to the boy, “I just want to hear from you what happened.”

               Knowing that the woman wouldn’t leave unless she got answers, Eren sighed and sat up, the blankets falling off of him.

               “What do you want to know?” he rubbed an eye with the back of his hand, looking at Hanji.

               “Just start from the beginning.”

               “Well, at the beginning I was asleep,” he ran a hair through his already chaotic strands, staring at the wall behind Hanji, “and then I heard something saying my name. I don’t really know how to describe it exactly but… it seemed like it was flying around my room, but I could still hear it.” His brows scrunched, trying to explain. Hanji listened intently, nodding at his story, making mental notes.

               “And then more voices joined that one. But they were the exact same voice, just…” Eren waved his hands around slightly trying to find the words, “flying in different directions I guess.” The boy’s voice got quiet at the end. He looked up at Hanji, trying to see if she got what he was trying to say. “Do you get what I mean?”

               Hanji nodded. “So you’re saying it was the same voice, just a multitude of it?” Eren nodded.

               “During the whole thing, there was a ringing as well. It was so faint at first I couldn’t really hear it. But then it sounded kind of like when you just get those random ringing in your ears, until that escalated and then it was just this almost deafening ring.” Eren was fidgeting with the comforter that was over his legs, his voice small.

               “But I guess what the weirdest thing was,” Eren started again, looking back up at Hanji, “it seemed like it was actually here. Like it wasn’t just in my head, but rather closing in on me.” Hanji’s brown eyes examined the boy as he relayed the information on to her, her thin eyebrows drawn together as she was deep in thought.

               “I see,” she mumbled, looking down at the floor, chewing her bottom lip. “This doesn’t sound like anything we’ve dealt with unfortunately, but we do have a few hunter friends who owe us a few favors.” She looked back up at Eren, her expression light once more. “They may have a bit more insight on this than we do at the moment. So how ‘bout this, I’ll call them, see if they can come up, and they can check it out. How does that sound?” she got up from the bed, flashing two thumbs up Eren’s direction.

               “Fine, I guess,” Eren shrugged.

               “Great!” she clapped her hands together, walking backwards to the door. She opened the door and took a step outside into the hallway, glancing back at Eren. “Get some rest, Eren, you look exhausted.” She closed the door.

               He flopped back down. “Will do.” He muttered to no one in particular.

-+-

               Hanji made her way down the hallway, pulling her phone out from her jeans pocket. She whistled and punched in a phone number, holding it to her head as it rang.

               It stopped after a few rings, a deep voiced ‘hello’ on the other side. She stopped whistling and she reached the map room.

               “Hey, Mike!” she greeted rambunctiously, “Sooo, I have a favor to ask of you.”


	12. Super Duper Important Thing

Okay, maybe it's not as important as I'm making it seem, but i just needed to upload a quick message.

I've made a brand spankin' new tumblr specifically for my fandoms ands fanfics. My new tumblr is [r-ebelcas.tumblr.com](http://r-ebelcas.tumblr.com/). 

If I ever have an update for this fic or any other ones I may start, I'll post a heads-up there as well. Plus, I'll post headcanons and one-shots that I may not post on here, so you get that as well.

If you have a tumblr, drop a follow and I'll follow back.

Well, that is all I needed to say. The next chapter should be out soon, so keep an eye out for that, too.

 

Till next time! :D


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long to upload, the document this fic was on wasn't letting me do anything, so I had to re-write half a chapter. But, nevertheless, it is up.
> 
> Sorry this chapter is mostly just dialogue, just had to get that out of the way. 
> 
> Follow my tumblr for updates and all that good stuff as well if ya wanna --> http://r-ebelcas.tumblr.com/

“You’re lucky we just wrapped up a case not too far away, Hanji,” the deep voice on the other side sighed. The woman smiled and fist pumped the air.

               “So I take that as a yes?”

               Another sigh. “Yes, Hanji, we’ll drop by.”

               Hanji squeeled. “Ooo, thank you, you won’t regret it!”

               “I’m sure I won’t Hanji. I think we’ll be able to make it by tomorrow morning.”

               “Alrighty, see you then!” She hung up and pocketed her phone.

               Levi soon walked out of the hallway, now wearing a white shirt and dark jeans, his hair still slightly damp. He stopped and gave Hanji a strange look.

               “What’s so thrilling?” he ran a hand through his hair, making it slick back. Hanji held her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on her feet.

               “Mike’s stopping by tomorrow, maybe he can get a sense with what we’re dealing with pertaining to Eren.” Levi hummed and raised his brows. Hanji tilted her head slightly, a small smile on her face. “Maybe you should go talk to him. Eren, I mean. He doesn’t seem as shaken up, but you should just go make sure.”  Levi huffed, looking away from the brunette for a moment.

               “What makes you think he wants to talk about it? Let alone to me?” he pointed at his chest.

               “It’s worth a shot, right? Besides you were there with him when it happened, so maybe he’ll open up more. He obviously trusts you.” The small smile on her face slowly turned into a smirk as she took her arms from behind her and crossed them.

               Levi rolled his eyes, mumbling a ‘fine, if you’ll get off my back’, and turned back around. He walked out of the map room and down the hallway with heavy steps. He was slightly hesitant to talk to the boy again. Eren probably didn’t even want to talk about it in the first place; he probably just wanted to forget it and the fact that he was becoming less and less human.

               A deep sigh left Levi as he neared Eren’s door. He stopped in front of it, wondering if he could turn back now. Growling inwardly at his sudden cowardice to the boy on the other side of the door, he raised his hand and rapped on the wood with his knuckle. He heard a muffled ‘come in’ before he twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

               Eren was still lying on the bed, scrolling through his phone when he heard the little knocking. He was contemplating whether or not to Mikasa or Armin a call, seeming how he told them he would eventually, but he was still getting over his headache and he knew that there would be a lot of questions that he didn’t want to deal with at the moment.

               When the door opened, he sat up and turned over to the door. He was slightly surprised to see Levi peek his head in until the raven was fully visible.

               “Hey.” Levi stalked in, hands in his pockets.

               “Hey.” Eren responded, watching the man walk over and lean against one of the bedside tables near Eren.

               “How ya feeling?” he took his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms against his chest.

               “Eh, fine, I guess. Still got a bit of a headache, though.” Eren sighed, putting his legs over the edge of the bed, looking up at Levi. The man huffed.

               “Yeah, I can imagine,” he looked down at the boy, “So have you had any… visitors since this morning?”

               Eren looked down at the floor, eyebrows scrunching together in the middle. “Well, I’m not sure really. Like, I think I hear someone talking, but it’s really faint. And I don’t know if it’s just my mind playing tricks on me or not, but, sometimes the ringing that happens when it’s quiet seems to get louder, even if just barely.” Eren huffed at himself, closing his eyes. “God, I sound like I’m crazy.” He put this elbows on his knees, resting his face in his hands.

               “Nah, I’ve heard crazier.” Levi shifted, crossing his ankles. Eren peered up through his fingers at the man. “Weird shit like this is going to happen now whether you like it or not, so it’s just better to deal with it when it comes around.” Eren took his hands from his face, opting to lean back on them behind him.

               “I suppose.” He said in a quiet voice, looking up at the raven once more.

               “So you said there were more voices. Could you hear what they were saying this time?”

               “Ah, well, um, here’s the thing,” Eren stumbled for words, “I could tell they were saying something, but I couldn’t understand them. It was almost like it was an entirely different language, one that I’ve never heard before. But, it seemed… familiar, somehow.” He looked back down in thought. “Even though I had no idea what they were saying, I could still tell they seemed relieved, almost excited.” Eren looked back up at Levi, who was deep in thought, digesting what the boy had told him.

               “Hmm. Odd.” He glanced down before looking back at the brunet. “Well we’re having a few people come over tomorrow. They’re hunters as well, and maybe they could help us in figuring out what’s happening.” Levi got up from leaning, standing up straight. “You should get some rest until then; it’ll be a long day tomorrow.” No more words were exchanged as Levi walked out of the boy’s room.

               As soon as the door closed, Eren sighed and ran a hand through his chestnut hair. A few more voices mumbled something back and forth when Levi left and Eren groaned, flopping back on the bed knowing rest was not going to come easy anymore.

-+-

               Levi was not joking when he said it would be a long day.

               The next day, heavy knocks hit the bunker’s metal door, sounding out through the bunker. Hanji hopped up the metal stairs, opening up the door. A ridiculously tall man stood on the other side. On one side of him stood a significantly shorter woman with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. On his other side stood a moderately tall male, carrying several bags, with two-toned undercut hair.

               Hanji opened the door and led the trio down the stairs, Hanji bantering on to the tall blond about how it’s been too long, and asking what they’ve been up to. Mike was saved by the woman’s rambling when Erwin appeared in the archway.

               “Ah, Mike, nice of you to drop by. Hello Nanaba, Jean.” He nodded to the two other hunters. Jean let the bags slide off his arms, the bags hitting the floor with a solid thunk. He rolled out his shoulder once the weight was off of him, nodding to Erwin in response.

               Levi appeared behind Erwin after hearing the ruckus. The shorter male stood at ease recognizing the trio. Mike hummed in acknowledgment, bending over and picking up a bag on the floor with ease.

               “So, where is this mystery being?” Nanaba asked, following Mike by grabbing one of the other bags. Hanji led the group into the library, clearing a table of clutter, allowing them to set down their equipment.

               In the duration, Levi had knocked on Eren’s door and, when he got no response, opened the door to a dark room and a sleeping Eren. He flipped on the light, trudging into the room. Eren was curled up in a ball, the comforter up to his nose. Taking hold of the thick blanket with both hands, he ripped it from Eren’s grasp, effectively pulling it off of him. Eren groaned, hands reaching down to find the lost blanket again.

               “Come on, you’ve got visitors.” Levi stood over the half-asleep figure, hands on his hips. Eren squinted his eyes open, head lifting from the pillow and turning towards the blurry shape of Levi.

               “Hm, wha-?” he rubbed his eyes, sitting up. His head didn’t hurt as much as the previous day, but it still had a sense of discomfort of some kind. He took his hands from his eyes and looked up at Levi.

               “Those people I was talking about are here, so get up.” He started to walk off to the door once again. Levi walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Eren waited a moment, deciding that Levi was gone and went to lie back down.

               “Eren!”

               “Okay, I’m up!” Eren heard Levi yell from the other side of the door and he got to his feet, stretching his arms towards the ceiling. He quickly got dressed in his usual attire: a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

               As he left his room and wandered down the hall, he ran his hands through his hair, trying to tame the extreme case of bed-head he had. Eren followed the sounds of people talking, going through the map room until he reached the library.

               All of the hunters’ heads turned towards him when he appeared in the archway, putting him on a spotlight of sorts.

               “Well, speak of the devil, Eren,” Hanji motioned for him to come closer, which he obeyed. He stopped a bit behind Hanji, seeing how the stranger hunters were looking him up and down.

               “Eren, this is Mike, Nanaba, and Jean. Everyone, this is Eren.” The brunette motioned to each of them as she said their names. Eren gave a small smile and a little hand wave towards the trio before shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket.

               “So,” Mike’s baritone voice said, “where can we set up shop?”

-+-

               “Damn, you guys have a dungeon?” Jean asked as he followed everyone else, his eyes scanning over everything in the room. Erwin pulled out a metal table in one of the corners of the room, Jean setting down the bags.

               Erwin chuckled. “Believe it or not, it comes in handy.” The blond went over and shut the two swiveling shelves until they were boxed in the small cement room.

               Eren stood off to the side, chewing on one of his nails. He watched the trio pull out several strange objects and some that looked like they came straight out of a slasher movie.

               Levi stood near the brunet, observing his nervous disposition. The kid looked downright terrified, and he couldn’t blame him. Levi didn’t know what tests they had in store for Eren, and by the looks of the metal contraption that Nanaba just put together, they didn’t seem pleasant.

               Levi looked over when he heard a shuddery breath leave Eren. He scooted over close enough so he could bump him with his elbow. Eren’s eyes shot over to him at the contact, like he was expecting to get attacked at any minute.

               “Relax, kid, they won’t do anything to hurt you too bad,” Levi directed his gaze ahead of them, watching Erwin and Hanji help lay out the things from the bags.

               “Yeah. Right.” Eren huffed, his foot now tapping against the concrete floor, looking back at the others.

               “Okay, then look at it like this: I won’t _let_ them hurt you too bad.” Levi looked up at the boy who was now looking at him as well. Eren almost seemed a bit speechless, and stared at Levi with big eyes, his mouth slightly agape.

               “Okay,” Hanji turned around on her heel, clapping her hands together, “Ready?” Eren looked away from Levi, whipping his head to the brunette. He slightly nodded his head and made his way closer, Levi following behind him.

               Hanji motioned towards the chair in the middle of the room. The boy inwardly shuddered at the thought of being restrained in that chair again, but sat down in it anyway. The chair creaked as he situated himself in a more comfortable position, resting his arms on the arm rests. Hanji kneeled down in front of him, pushing his ankles until they hit the legs of the chair, and they clasping a metal cuff around each one, restraining his legs to the chair.

               Eren shuffled again. The restraints left no wiggle room; he couldn’t even turn his feet if he wanted to. The woman stood up again, making a move to do the same to his wrists, but stopped when Nanaba spoke up.

               “You can leave his arms free; it’ll work better with them unrestrained anyways,” Hanji hummed and nodded, stepping away from the chair. Eren looked back at the objects on the table, peering around the broad figure of Mike to see.

               “Hey, what is all of that?” He asked, leaning in the chair.

               “Just precaution,” Mike responded, turning around to face the boy, “We don’t know for sure what you could be, so we just brought a variety of things in case we have to subdue you.” He spoke casually, taking a few steps closer to Eren, Jean and Nanaba doing the same. Erwin, Hanji, and Levi took some steps back, giving the other hunters plenty of room.

               Jean and Nanaba went to stand behind Eren, one on each side of him. Mike pulled a metal chair and sat down in it in front of Eren.

               “Alright Eren, we’re going to do a small test. Since it seems you were human for the most part, this has a large probability of it working.” He leaned forward, his eyes latching on Eren’s like hooks. “First thing I want you to do is to focus on the tapping,” he began to hit the metal chair with his nail, it letting out a little ‘tink’ with every tap, “Now, keeping the beat of that in mind, I want you to listen to what I am saying,” his voice was even and low, almost resonating in Eren’s bones, “I’m going to count down from five, and by the time I reach one, you will fall into a deep sleep,” Eren’s brows scrunched together, “Five,”

               “Hold on, you’re trying to hypnotize me?” Mike continued counting, unfazed by Eren’s sudden outburst. “I really don’t think that’s even going to wo-“

               “One.”

               Eren’s eyes closed and his head fell as soon as Mike reached one. Eren seemed to be out like a light, his breathing deep and even, his shoulders slack.

-+-

               It was foggy. Eren couldn’t see five feet in front of him. He could see his breath, but it wasn’t cold here, in fact, Eren couldn’t feel anything. He was standing, but he couldn’t feel the ground beneath his feet. And it was quiet, oh so quiet. The only thing he could hear was his breathing and his own heartbeat.

               He took a step forward. When he did, a thunk that sounded like a glass tank filled with water being hit, and Eren was on the inside of the tank. His eyes strained to see anything, but all he saw was fog. It seemed stationary, like time was frozen in that spot.

               “Hello?” he called out to no one in particular. His voice sounded like it was underwater. His ears felt like they needed to pop, and his lungs struggled for enough oxygen.

               Slight movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He whirled around, trying to gaze through the fog to see what it was, if anything. But as soon as he saw it, it was gone. Eren’s eyes darted around, slight panic beginning to set in. He didn’t remember anything before now; he didn’t know how he got there or even who he was at the moment.

               Another flicker of something caught his attention again, this time he was quick enough to get a glimpse of the thing. It was just a small sliver of light. It seemed extremely fluid, because all it had to do was curl in on itself and it was gone again.

               Eren began to take heavy steps towards the spot he saw the thing. His legs felt like lead and that he was trying to walk through mud with them. He groaned pulling his legs in the direction he wanted them to go.

               When he finally reached the spot, he found nothing. It seemed just like the spot he woke up in; desolate and grey. He swallowed thickly, trying to catch his breath. He was exhausted already. He was bent over, resting his hands on his knees, gulping down oxygen. 

               Suddenly, over the sound of his labored breathing, he heard something; a shrill ring, just breeze by his ear. He winced and turned away from the sound. It acted as though it was a fly that just flew by his ear. Eren’s eyes darted around again, trying to find to source of the sound, but was once again just met with grey.

               Behind him, another ring flew by him, Eren yelping at the pitch of it. He covered his ear, panic _really_ starting to set in. He could hear a few more in the distance before they zipped by him, leaving him cringing at the ear-splitting shriek.

               It started out as a couple, with a few moments of silence between them, but it soon turned into a cacophony of shrieking rings flying all around him. He slammed his hands over his ears, his eyes clamping shut. The ringing seemed to close in on him, and he ran.

               Adrenaline pumped through his veins, making his legs fight through the pain and run away. Eren didn’t know where he was running to, but all he knew was that he wanted to be away.

               His lungs ached with each breath he inhaled and exhaled as he bolted through the fog. The rings seemed to be right on his tail, however, keeping pace with him easily.

-+-

               Mike watched Eren in front of him, analyzing each movement.

               Eren was still out cold, his head tilted more to the side now. The boy’s fingers were clenched around the arm rests, his knuckles turning white with the force. His face looked pained; his eyebrows were brought together, his eyes clenched shut. Eren’s jaw was shut tightly, his lip quivering.

               He shifted in the chair, shaking his head slightly. A small whimper sounded from his throat.

               “Alright, Mike, that’s enough, bring him back,” Levi spoke up from the sidelines. He went to take a step forward, but was stopped by Erwin’s large hand pushing back on his chest, holding him in place. Levi glared up at the blond, but he was still looking intently at Eren and Mike.

               Jean and Nanaba were behind Eren’s chair still, ready to have to hold down Eren at any moment.

               “Not yet.” Was all Mike responded with. Levi exhaled sharply, his jaw clenching in annoyance. Eren was still sitting in his uncomfortable position, his facial expression twitching every so often.

               The boy let in a sudden intake of air, his mouth open, and he leaned forward slightly. He let out a spluttering cough, nails digging into the chair.

-+-

               Suffocating.

               That was all Eren felt. He could feel the sound physically suffocating him. It wrapped around his head, he could feel it weigh down on his chest and throat. He closed his eyes, taking in a wheezy breath as he sprinting through the fog.

               He could feel tears now running down his cheeks from pain and panic, and he shut his eyes, now running blindly.

               It didn’t feel like he was really running, until his foot caught on something and he went tumbling. He landed awkwardly on his hands, his foot still draped over what he had tripped on. His eyes opened, and he looked through the blurriness of tears at the thing.

               He looked in confusion as he recognized what he tripped on was a root. It was thick and barky. His eyes trailed up the root, taking in the giant thing above him.

               It was a tree, and a humongous one at that. It looked centuries old, it’s bark almost grey. The trunk was probably 10 feet wide, and it towered over the boy. It seemed to lean to one side, it’s branches a twisted mess of bark and leaves. He let out a hiccup as he took in the sight, wondering how he hadn’t seen it, considering it’s size.

               This was short lived, however, and the ringing came back with even more force. He cried out, covering his ears with his arms, legs curling in towards him until he was lying in a fetal position on his side.

-+-

               Eren’s whole body shook as he let out a choked sob, tears now staining his face. He tore from his grip on the chair and slammed his hands against his ears, trying to block out a sound that wasn’t there.

               “Mike!” Levi shouted. Mike silenced him by holding up a finger, still looking at Eren. Levi growled and grabbed onto Erwin’s grip on him, trying to get free to no prevail.

               “-o, stop,” Eren whimpered. The boy curled in on himself, rocking back and forth, broken whimpers of protest leaving his trembling lips.

               “Eren,” Mike started, his voice still even.

               “No,” Eren spoke in an almost normal level of volume now, his head shaking slightly.

               “Eren, I need you to listen to me now.”

               “No, no, no, no,” he repeated like a mantra. His legs pulled against the restraints on his ankles, the metal shackles groaning ever so slightly.

               “Hey,” Mike put his hand out towards Eren, touching his elbow.

               “Stop!” Eren shrieked, and every lightbulb in the room shattered, engulfing everything in darkness.

               The room was deathly quiet, save for Eren’s breathing and quiet sobs. Mike pulled out a lighter from his pocket, standing up and going over the metal table. He grabbed a few of the many candles they had brought along, and lit them.

               A soft, warm glow filled the room. Levi barreled past Erwin’s hand, going over to curled up Eren. He knelt down in front of him.

               A small trickle of red left Eren’s nose and he let out one last whimper. Levi placed his hands over Eren’s which were still secured over his ears. Eren flinched and let out a panicked gasp, but opened his eyes anyway.

               Levi’s face was nothing but concern as he looked over the boy’s face. His fingers curled into Eren’s, pulling his hands from his ears.

               “Eren, are you alright?” Levi asked, still holding onto Eren’s hands.

               “I-“ Eren began, but then his vision got fuzzy. His eyes rolled to the back of his head before closing and he fell forward, body limp. Levi was there in an instant, catching Eren’s body and letting it fall gently on him. He rested Eren’s head on his shoulder, an arm wrapping around his waist to keep him centered.

“Mike, what the hell did you do?!” Levi growled to the man standing off to the side of him. He glared at the blond.

“Interesting.” Mike mumbled, eyes distant as he was deep in thought. Hanji seemed to be eating this up, as she took on the same look, eyes hungry for more information.

Levi reached down with his free hand, blindly undoing to clasps around the boy’s ankles. Once they were free, he slipped the same arm under the crook of Eren’s knees. He lifted him easily, Eren still out cold resting against Levi.

“Open the fucking wall,” he ordered. Hanji was the closest, so she pushed open the shelves. Levi didn’t spare any of them a second glance and he breezed past and out the door.

               Levi was still riled up as he hurried down the hallway. Eren’s nose had stopped bleeding, at least, so Levi didn’t have to worry about getting blood on his shirt.

               He walked past multiple doors before he came upon Eren’s. He opened it carefully, so he didn’t drop Eren. Levi walked into the room, flipping on the light switch as he went past it. Levi quickly strode over to Eren’s bed, gently laying him down on it.

               Eren was still limp, the only indication that he was alive was the small rising and falling of his chest with every shallow breath he took.

 Levi sighed heavily, rubbing his face with both of his hands. He told Eren he wouldn’t let them do anything to him, and he failed. Levi had no idea what Eren saw. He didn’t even know what Mike’s test was supposed to accomplish.

Shaking his head slightly, he sat down at the foot of Eren’s bed, the mattress dipping under his weight. He rested his elbows on his knees, watching Eren. The boy’s face was peaceful and the rest of him was still. Levi grimaced and pulled out his bandana from his back pocket. He folded up the piece of fabric and leaned over the sleeping figure. Gently, as to not wake him up, Levi cleaned the blood from his face and the now drying tears from his eyes and cheeks.

Eren shifted slightly at the contact but made no move to wake up again. Once his face was clean, Levi placed the bandana on the bedside table, still watching Eren. With his now free hand, he pushed Eren’s bangs out of his face, the brunet letting out a content sigh.

“I’m sorry this had to happen to you, Eren.”

-+-

“What the hell was that?” Jean mumbled as he bent over to pick up more broken shards of lightbulb.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen a reaction like that before,” Nanaba responded, going over to Mike.

“Erwin, I’m want to ask Eren some questions when he wakes up, is that okay?” Mike finished packing up one of the bags on the table, turning to the other tall blond.

Erwin rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. “I’m fine with it, because I’m just as curious as you, but you’re going to have to get through Levi first.” Hanji smirked, covering it up with her hand.

“Yeah, I noticed that, what’s going on between those two?” Nanaba spoke up, standing beside Mike.

Erwin shrugged. “My guess is that he feels like he has a certain responsibility towards the kid.” Mike hummed in acknowledgement.

               “So, what have you gathered from your little test?” Hanji asked, eager to dwell more on the subject.

               “Well, I’m going to have to get more information from Eren, but I have my suspicions. And, if they’re correct, then we’ve got an extremely special case on our hands.”

               “Well then, let’s go find out, shall we?” Erwin motioned towards the now open shelf wall.

-+-

               A light knock on the door made Levi’s head snap up. Mike’s head peeked in through the slightly opened door before he walked through it completely. Levi was still a little on edge and had a few choice words to say to Mike about the situation, but refrained to just watching him with a half-hearted glare. Nanaba walked in behind him, carrying a pen and a notebook.

               “Hello, Levi,” Mike greeted, stepping closer to the pair. Levi responded with a nod. “He still out?” Mike motioned to the still lump of Eren.

               “Yeah,” Levi sighed, looking over at Eren and then back to Mike.

               “Do you think we can ask him some quick questions?” Mike asked cautiously. He knew he was treading on dangerous territory just by asking, but he had to get more information in order to confirm his suspicions or not.

               “Hmm, I don’t know, he seemed to be pretty exhausted,” Levi countered.

               “Just a few short questions, then he can go back to resting.” Mike bargained, lifting his hands in a surrender-like way. Levi looked between the two blonds in front of him, knowing that they weren’t going to budge.

               “Fine.” Levi rolled his eyes internally and reached over to Eren again. He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and started to gently shake him awake. “Hey, Eren.” The boy’s eyes started to flutter open, his head rolling to the opposite side. Levi started shaking him a bit rougher. Eren groaned in protest before his eyes finally blinked open. A look of panic flashed over his face and he grabbed Levi’s wrist. He looked around before realizing where he was and let the raven’s wrist go.

               “Welcome back, Eren,” Mike smiled down at the boy. Eren rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand, using his free arm to push himself up from a laying position into sitting one, his head pounding in protest. Eren could only groan in response as he pulled his legs in so he sat cross legged.

               “How are you feeling?” the blond asked. Beside him, Nanaba flipped open to a blank piece of paper in her notebook, clicking her pen as well.

               Eren sighed. “Tired.”

               Mike chuckled. “I can imagine,” he crossed his arms, his face taking a more serious note, “So do you remember anything about the test we did?” Eren thought for a moment before nodding lightly. Mike raised his brow, asking Eren to elaborate.

               “Uh, well, the first thing I remember seeing was fog.”

               “Fog?”

               “Yeah, like, that was all that was around,” Eren looked down and took heavy breath before continuing, “And then I started to lights.”

               “Lights like what? Like a flashlight or like eyes?” Nanaba scribbled something down in her notebook.

               “I don’t really know how to describe it, but, it seemed like it was fluid, sort of?” Eren fumbled for words, “Like a little stream of light.”

               Nanaba looked up from her notebook, glancing over at Mike, him doing the same. They seemed to have a conversation between their short glance before the male turned back to Eren.

               “Was that all you saw? Did you hear anything?”

               “I heard this kind of ringing.”

               “Like the kind from before?” Levi asked, slightly leaning towards Eren.

               “No, this was more like a shrieking. And it seemed to be all around me, just flying around,” Eren’s head hurt just thinking about the intensity of the rings, “They started to kind of close in on me; to a point where I couldn’t breathe, so I ran. After running, I eventually tripped on a tree root.”

               “Was it just a tree root, or was there a tree attached to it as well?” Nanaba asked, underlining something.

               “Oh there was a tree attached to it, alright. It was _huge_ ,” Eren motioned with his hands to elaborate on the sheer size of the thing. “And that was all I remember.”

               The room was silent. Nanaba looked to Mike who was holding his chin, putting together the pieces. The blond let out a heavy sigh and nodded to himself. He looked over to Nanaba who had the same understanding look on her face. Mike turned back to Eren who looked anxious to hear what they had to say.

               “Eren, we may have an idea of what you could be.”

               “Well?” Eren prodded after a few moments of silence. Levi leaned forward, also anticipating what the man had to say.

               “You may be an angel, Eren.”


	14. Chapter Thirteen

There was a few beats of silence. Eren stared at the blond, his mouth slightly open. A snicker left his lips before it escalated into a hearty laugh that he tried to smother with his hands. Tears pricked his eyes as Mike sighed heavily.

               Meanwhile, Levi was trying to piece everything together. How could Eren be an angel and not even know it? Levi didn’t even believe angels existed, anyways. The raven watched Eren slowly lose the containment of his laughter.

               “I think you broke him, Mike,” Levi commented, looking back up at the tall man.

               “Ah, I’m sorry,” Eren sniffled, letting out a couple more rogue chuckles, “That just sounds like a long stretch, I mean, do angels even exist?” The brunet wiped the corners of his eyes, gaining his composure again.

               “Believe it or not, yes, they do.”  Mike answered and Levi brows furrowed.

               “Seriously? I’m sure after all my years of hunting, I would’ve come across an angel or two,” Levi commented. Mike was talking about angels, like, _angel_ angels, and for as long as Levi had been hunting; it would’ve been highly probable to come across one at least once.

 Levi was watching Eren out of the corner of his eye. The boy had become quiet after a few moments, his rouse of amusement seemingly passed by quickly. Eren’s eyes started to wander as his did his mind. Surely if he was something as powerful as an angel, he’d know it, right? Thinking back, Eren could remember no odd memories or any blank spots at that. He had a generally normal childhood; nothing supernatural was ever a concern for him.

“Well now you have, because one’s sitting by you.” Mike nodded towards Eren. Levi turned his head towards the boy who was still unfocused on anything outside his realm of thoughts.

“How is that even possible? I mean, the kid is mostly human,” Levi stood up from the mattress, crossing his arms against his chest, looking up at the tall blond.

“There are several possibilities,” Nanaba started, clicking her pen and tapping the notebook in her hands with it, “But because Eren mentioned that he saw something during the test, this is the most probable.”

“Well?” Levi prodded after a few moments of silence.

“It is possible that Eren is a fallen angel; meaning his grace fell and he was born into a mortal body. Because he was born as a human without his grace, he has none of his angel characteristics. I think when you were attacked by the vampire, Eren, whatever residue that was left over from when you fell flared back up, causing you to regain a bit of yourself.”

Eren swallowed thickly and looked up at the woman. She spoke in a kind voice to not upset Eren any farther. Even though he didn’t show it on his face, Eren was scared. Everything he had known about life was basically a lie; he wasn’t even who he thought he was born to be.

“That still doesn’t explain the annoying ringing.” Eren mumbled, his hands fidgeting in his lap.

“There is a lot of lore on angels; some true, some false. There are a few that include the theory that angels are on their own frequency, and are able to communicate through these wavelengths.”

“So basically some kind of… angel radio?” Levi asked, somewhat sarcastically.

“Yes, exactly,” Nanaba agreed, earning a huff from Levi in return.

“So I was hearing… angels _talking_?” Eren spoke slowly, digesting all of this information at once.

“We believe so.”

Eren now sat with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, his eyes trained on the floor. He took in a deep breath, letting it out the same way. Once he actually thought about it, it all started to make sense. The freaky healing abilities, hearing murmurs accompanied by the tinny rings, it all led to one possibility: Eren was an angel.

“So-so what does that mean, then?” Eren blinked quickly a few times before looking up at the two blonds.

“What it means is that in order for you to get your grace back, you’ll need to find it.” Nanaba held the notebook behind her back with both of her hands.

Eren snorted. “Yeah, that should be easy.”

“We have the first clue: the tree.” Mike commented.

“You’re saying his grace _grew_ into a tree when it fell?” Levi asked. He was having a hard time fully believing this, but Mike and Nanaba seemed mighty convinced that this was what was going on with Eren. Mike nodded in response.

Eren sighed heavily, resting his head in his hands. All of this was very overwhelming, and the constant onslaught of information made his head ache worse.

“Alright, I think that’s enough, for now,” Levi turned to the two standing, picking up on Eren’s discomfort. Mike seemed like he wanted to say more, but remembered what Erwin said about the two, so he dropped it. He nodded and walked out of the room without another word, Nanaba close behind.

The click of the door closing shut seemed to echo through the deathly quiet room now. Levi turned back around to Eren, the boy still cradling his head.

“You alright?” Levi walked over and sat on the bed next to him.

Eren let out a humorless chuckle. “No, not really,” he all but whispered. Levi put a hand on Eren’s back. It frustrated him how he could do nothing to make it better for the boy, and having to sit by and watch him very slowly fall apart was not something that sat well with Levi.

Eren closed his eyes at the contact. He wanted to lean into it, to just fall into it so it was all he could feel, but he didn’t. He let out a small sigh through his nose when he felt Levi’s thumb move in small circles against his back. Even though his way of comforting could be seen as slightly unusual or “not enough” to some people, it was plenty enough for Eren. Levi knew when to talk or ask questions, and he gave Eren space, letting him open up to him if he wanted to. Most of the time, just the silence and the small touches that he gave to let Eren know he was there was perfect, just like now. Right now, Eren just needed an anchor to keep him tied down so he didn’t go floating away through the what-ifs of the whole situation, and that anchor was Levi.

Eren rubbed his eyes when he felt wetness accumulate there. He huffed in frustration at himself; he was always one to let his emotions get the best of him, and had a difficult time dealing through them sometimes.

Levi’s hand moved to the back of Eren’s neck, giving it a light squeeze when he saw the boy’s glassy eyes. It didn’t take long before the tears got the better of Eren and they began to flow freely down his cheeks. Eren curled in on himself slightly as he muffled a small sob with his hand.

“Hey, hey,” Levi whispered, wrapping his arm around Eren and pulling him towards him. Eren went with no resistance, the side of his face resting on Levi’s chest, the man’s hand curled around his head, his fingers carding through his hair. Eren was shaking as everything hit him at once, his fist curling over a handful of Levi’s shirt.

The two sat in quiet for a while like that; Levi’s arms wrapped around Eren, and Eren curled up in the shelter that Levi was giving him.

After a while, Eren became too tired to cry anymore, but he stayed in Levi’s embrace. When Levi felt Eren stop shaking, he looked down at the red-eyed brunet.

“Does your head still hurt?” Eren could hear Levi’s voice vibrate through his chest.

“Mm, kinda.” Eren was muffled by his arms that were curled up by his face.

“Are you hearing anything right now?”

Eren shook his head.

“They’re not as loud when you’re around.”

-+-

Eventually the warmth and security he felt with Levi and the fact that he felt completely emotionally drained, Eren fell asleep again. Levi didn’t notice the boy’s unconsciousness until Eren’s breaths became even and he could hear little snores from coming from him.

Eren was practically lying on Levi’s lap; the raven’s arms being the only thing supporting him up.

Ever so carefully, Levi started to lean the boy until his back hit the mattress. Eren made a small, noise of protest in his sleep when he felt Levi’s arms deposit him on the bed. Levi coaxed Eren’s hands to let go of his shirt, cradling them until he placed them by Eren to rest. Eren’s cheeks were still flushed from crying earlier, tears drying to his long eyelashes.

Levi stood up from the bed quietly, the springs squeaking slightly. The raven stood over the peaceful figure, pushing the brunet’s bangs away from his face. Leaning over, he gently placed his lips on Eren’s now exposed forehead. He lingered for a moment before pulling back again. He looked over Eren one more time before leaving his room.

The door closed with a click and Levi leaned his back against it, heaving a heavy sigh. Out of all the things, Eren had to be an angel. Although, Levi was glad it wasn’t something that they had to take care of. Levi probably couldn’t handle that again. He rubbed his face with his hands before pushing off of the door.

He ambled down the hallway, passing through rooms until he reached the library. Hanji walked in from the kitchen just as he stepped down into the room. She had her hair down, a cup of steaming tea in her hands.

“You look like shit, Levi.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled. _I feel like shit too._

“I’ve haven’t seen you so worked up about something in a long time. Is everything alright?” Hanji walked over to one of the tables, placing her mug down with a light clunk. She stood with one hand on the back of a chair, the other on her hip, a concerned look on her face.

“No, everything’s not alright.” Levi huffed and plopped himself down in a chair rather ungracefully, grabbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. “Things just got about 900% more complicated, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Is this about Eren?” Hanji sat down in a chair near Levi.

“No, it’s about the weather- Of course it’s about Eren!” Levi snapped. Hanji was used to her friend’s attitude and was unfazed by his sudden outburst. “I just found out that we’ve been harboring a lost angel, when not 20 minutes ago, I didn’t even believe angels existed.” He shook his head, not looking at Hanji. A small smile fell onto the brunette’s face, an empathetic look in her eyes.

“Why don’t you go on a small hunt to take your mind off things?”

“No.” Levi didn’t hesitate in answering, still not meeting Hanji’s gaze, opting to look at one of the many large book shelves. Hanji’s thin brows drew together in confusion.

“But you always work a case when you’re stressed?”

“I’m not leaving Eren.”

It seemed that Levi didn’t realize that he said that out loud, because he was too deep in his own thoughts. His fingers drummed lightly on the table, his grey eyes staring off into space. Hanji was surprised at his answer, to say the least. A smile that was almost a smirk found her its way to her face. She looked at her fellow hunter with a knowing look. Eren had somehow managed to weasel his way into Levi’s affections without the man even knowing it. Hanji was a very smart person, but it didn’t take a genius like her to see that Levi cared for Eren, rather he’d admit it or not. She wondered if Eren knew how lucky he was.

“Why don’t you take him with you?” She took a sip from her tea, still observing the raven.

Levi shook his head slightly, his eyes drawing to the table. “I don’t think he’s ready, yet. The kid’s been through hell and back lately.”

“I don’t know, maybe it’ll do him some good, being out in the field.” Levi looked at her with a small glare, knowing she had gotten him there.

“It might not be safe for him to be hunting right now.”

“You’ll be there with him, won’t you?” Hanji had an explanation for every excuse Levi threw at her. After a few more failed attempts to find a reasoning that prohibited Eren from hunting, Levi growled a ‘fine’, throwing his hands in the air.

“Ah, good!” she clapped her hands together, “Because I got wind of one in Colorado!” She was a bit too excited for a case that she wasn’t even going on.

“Hell no, Hanji, I am not driving 7 hours away with him.” He shot her a look.

“Aw, come on, it’ll be over before you know it.” She waved off his protest.

“Yeah, well, if the kid ever comes out of his coma, but until then, I’m not going anywhere.” As if almost on cue, the main topic of the conversation came waltzing in. He seemed completely fine, even a bit better than before. His hair was orderly (or as neat as he could pass it off as), his cheeks no longer flushed. He even seemed to have a healthy glow around him. Levi almost did a double take when he was the complete 180 Eren did from when he saw him last.

“Hello, Eren!” Hanji beamed up at the brunet.

“Hey,” Eren put his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Watchya guys up to?”

“Levi just found a case.” The raven shot Hanji yet another look and had to refrain from literally growling at the woman.

Eren faltered a bit. He glanced over at Levi before back at Hanji. When Eren looked at him, he had a strange emotion flash on his features before training back to his usual. Was that fear?

“Oh, nice,” Eren played it off with a twitch of his head that could be considered a nod.

As soon as Eren had heard that Levi was leaving, to god knows where, anxiety flooded Eren. He had meant it when he said that the constant noise now flowing through his head seemed to dwindle whenever he was around Levi. It was almost as if the angels, or whatever was annoying the shit out of Eren, didn’t want to be around Levi. Like they were almost afraid of him.

Not to mention the fact that Levi gave Eren a sense of security that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. For the first time since he was dragged into this whole new world Eren felt _safe_. And now his anchor was leaving.

“Well, I was just going to get water.” Eren spoke in a small voice, his eyes darting to the ground for a split second before he shuffled to the kitchen. The once almost radiant aura that Eren was emitting faltered ever so slightly and it was a bit dimmer than before.

The two hunters watched Eren off and disappear into the other room. Hanji was the first to turn back. Levi was confused at the change in Eren, even if it appeared to be slight.

-+-

Eren blew out a sigh as he walked into the kitchen. His eyes were focused on the ground and he almost didn’t notice the person standing in the kitchen until he bumped into them.

“Oh, sorry,” Eren mumbled, looking up. The man, Jean, if Eren could remember correctly, turned around to look at the thing that ran into him.

“Hmm? Oh, no problem,” Jean stepped to the side, allowing Eren to continue on his path. Jean watched the brunet reach up into one of the cupboards and grab a cup. The faucet squeaked when Eren turned one of the handles and poured some water into his cup.

“So. Angel, huh?” Jean asked, leaning back on the counter.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Eren shrugged his shoulders. Eren took a sip of his water, leaning so the counter dug into his back.  “Have you guys ever seen an angel?” Eren asked after a few moments of silence.

Jean hummed. “Not face to face. We’ve had to deal with angel smitings, though. That’s always a task.”

Eren looked over to him with a confused expression. “Smitings?”

“Oh yeah, they’re pretty wicked. Like their eyes are all burned out of their head and they go out with a big blast of bright light. But I guess you’ll learn about all that soon enough.”

Eren huffed with a small smile. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Ya know,” Jean said after a few beats, “I’ve never seen an angel face to face, but,” he leaned over closer to Eren, eyes raking over his face, “I can’t say I’m disappointed.”

Eren felt his face heat up when he watched Jean check him out right then and there in the kitchen, and he tried to hide the blush that was dusted over his cheekbones behind the cup by taking a small drink. Jean hadn’t moved back, he was still leaning against the counter (facing Eren, of course), and close enough that they were sharing a bit of each other’s personal space. Eren offered a shy smile before looking down at the ground.

Levi had decided to go talk to Eren and see what was bothering him this time, but faltered when he saw Jean standing close to Eren. A bit _too_ close.

He cleared his throat loudly, Eren jumping a little, not realizing Levi had walked in. Jean simply turned his head to the noise.

“Eren. _Jean._ ” He growled lowly at the tall male. Jean only raised an eyebrow in response. Levi rolled his eyes internally and switched his attention to Eren. “Pack a bag for a few days; we’ll head out tomorrow morning.” Levi decided not to beat around the bush and just went for it. Besides, the quicker Levi could get Eren away from Jean’s prying eyes the better.

Eren tilted his head to the side slightly, watching Levi with questioning eyes. “What do you mean?”

Levi sighed. “Meaning, if you’re not ready tomorrow, I’m leaving you here.” He felt the urge to cross his arms but refrained.

Eren’s face literally lit up. “You mean you’re taking me with you?” Levi nodded. Sometimes this kid was so oblivious. A light chuckle passed his lips, the anxiety he felt earlier was gone now. He downed the rest of the water in his cup in a single gulp, putting the now empty cup in the sink before turning towards the entrance. He looked back at Jean. “Guess I’ll talk to you later.”

Jean responded with a small two fingered salute, flicking off from his forehead, and a half smile. Eren took that as a farewell and walked pass Levi, his spring back in his step.

Levi watched Eren leaved out of the corner of his eye until he couldn’t see him any longer. Once he knew the brunet was out of sight, he slowly turned his head back to Jean who was still leaning on the counter like he owned the place. He looked at him with a slightly murderous glare, and the taller male squirmed a little under his intense watch.

“Kirstien.”

“Ackerman.”

Levi turned on his heel, not breaking his glare until he couldn’t anymore, and walked out of the kitchen.

-+-

               Eren walked into his room feeling much better than earlier. The ringing raised in intensity since he was alone, but he didn’t let it bother him all too much.

               He pulled the duffel bag that was shoved unceremoniously under his bed from the last hunt out and plopped it on his bed. He shoved a few articles of clothing in the now open bag. Levi said to pack a few days’ worth, so he just packed it until he deemed it enough.

               The bed shook when he threw himself down on it back first. He lay sprawled out, staring at the ceiling. He was giddy with nerves and eagerly awaited the next day.

-+-

               Eren woke with a start. He was still half hanging off the bed, his limbs sprawled out. He rubbed the fuzziness from his eyes. He must’ve fallen asleep after he packed his bags to leave this morning.

               Leave this morning. _Shit_.

               Eren whipped his head to the alarm clock that sat on the little wooden table by the head of his bed.

               7:13

               “Motherfu-!” Eren flailed so hard he rolled off the bed, slamming hard into the wood floor with a rather loud thunk that shook the furniture in the room.

               The brunet tried getting to his feet, pulling on the sheets on the bed. The sheets only went down with him as he fell again. Finally scrambling to his feet, Eren reached over and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

               The door slammed into the outer wall as he threw it open. He didn’t even bother closing it since the impact made it go swinging back in place anyways, and hauled ass to the bunker door. Everything was blur of colors as he sped down the hallway, through the map room, and up the black metal stairs, finally bursting through the big metal door.

-+-

               Levi sat in the impala, resting his head on a fist, watching the door for any signs of movement. He checked the watch on his wrist for what seemed like the 20th time. He sighed, reaching for his keys.

               “Guess he’s not coming,” he muttered to himself. The engine roared to life as he turned on the ignition.

               Then, something hit the car hard enough to shake it to the side, the light coming in from the passenger’s side window being blocked out.

               “Holy shit!” he cursed loudly, fumbling for the knife under his seat. He turned his head to the sound of the impact so fast his neck cracked. Levi’s nerves settled ever so slightly when he saw the flustered mess of Eren. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and rolled his eyes heavily, reaching over and unlocking the door.

As soon as lock was pulled up, Eren opened the door and slumped down into the seat. Levi looked him over. His hair was sticking out at odds and ends, his cheeks slightly red from waking up in a panic state. He was still wearing the hoodie and jeans he was wearing yesterday, and his shoes were on the wrong feet.

Eren was panting slightly, dropping the bag that was slung haphazardly over his shoulder to his feet.

“God, Eren, you ‘bout near gave me a heart attack. I didn’t even see the bunker open.” Levi gave Eren a look.

“Ah, soh-“ he cleared his throat and tried to catch his breath again, “Sorry, I woke up kinda late.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Levi mumbled and put the car into reverse and drove down the dirt road.

Eren took a deep breath, running a hand through his severe case of bed head. He muttered something under his breath and used the side view mirror to try and comb through his hair with his fingers.

Levi kept glancing over at him and his terrible job at trying to tame his hair. He shook his head and reached over. Eren froze slightly when he felt the sudden hand on his head, running through his hair. Levi had his eyes on the road, his expression its usual impassiveness, with one hand on the wheel and the other combing through Eren’s hair.

Side glancing, Levi deemed his hair less of a mess and returned his hand back to the wheel.

“Thanks,” Eren muttered, shifting his hoodie. Levi hummed in response, eyes on the road while they finally reached paved streets.

“So, uh, what kind of a case did you find?” Eren asked, looking from Levi to the road and back again.

“Murders, several of them, all committed by the same guy.” Levi responded, not looking over.

Eren’s brows drew together. “So why is this a case?”

“Because, last time I checked, people can’t be in two places at once. There was video surveillance of him walking into these places to do the killings, but he was at a house party on the other side of the city at the exact same time of the killings.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be a case,” Eren mumbled. He thought back to the last case and his heart dropped. “Does this mean we have to wear suits again?” he looked over at Levi with pleading eyes.

“Yep. I kept the ones from last time so we don’t have to worry about it.”

“I thought those were rentals, though?”

“Yeah.”

“I think that’s considered stealing.”

“Yeah.”

Eren smiled, shaking his head slightly, and shifted in the seat to get comfortable for the long drive ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bullshitted my way through this whole chapter, I am so sorry.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren learns a bit about Levi's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is waaay overdue, I apologize! Writer's block is not a fun thing ugh.  
> Oh well, I least I uploaded something, eh?  
> \--------  
> My tumblr is r-ebelcas.tumblr.com  
> I track the tags OMAMbc and fic: OMAM

The two drove down the road in a peaceful silence. There were a few cars out on the road, but it wasn’t too bad. Music played out softly through the car. Eren watched the outside world zip by from the passenger’s side window. He sighed contently as he shifted deeper into the seat.

“Want to grab something to eat?” Levi asked, eyes still on the road.

Eren glanced over, shrugging his shoulders and nodding. “Sure.”

Levi nodded once and turned off onto a different road. The place he was driving them to was a place that was his second home for a portion of his life, one that he remembers fondly. He figured if he and Eren were going to be working together, it may help if Eren got a bit of insight on who Levi was, even if just the good parts.

The brunet watched as the car went down a small road that diverged from the main one. They soon hit a small patch of trees. They towered over each other, their thick branches swaying ever so slightly. They blocked out the morning sun, casting leafed shadows on the road and the car.

“This place is pretty cool,” Eren began, gazing up into the vastness of the trees, “What is this place?”

“A little place only really known by the locals, but it’s got good people.” Levi watched how Eren’s eyes lit up as the brunet absorbed the surroundings that were zooming past them. You would’ve thought the kid had never seen trees before. Levi let out a small smile before turning his attention back to the road.

Not soon after, the car began to slow down as they approached a near invisible road. After turning down it and following it for a while, a moderately sized building emerged into sight. It was made from logs that were now faded with age and weathering. There were several windows lined up evenly on every side. Before the entrance, there was a large porch, shaded by the overhang of roof that came from the main roofing.

The car rumbled as Levi parked it before going quiet. He parked amongst the other cars that were lined up in front of the restaurant. The car doors squeaked as the duo got out, Eren still tearing the place apart with his eyes.

The wooden porch made hollow sounds as Levi’s boots and Eren’s sneakers treaded along to the entrance. Levi pulled open the door, holding it open for Eren, and then walking in after. The place was busy (but Levi didn’t expect any different, this place did have pretty awesome food), people chatting all throughout the homey feeling restaurant, and the few waiters that worked there bustling around to and fro throughout the space.

Levi paused momentarily, Eren _still_ taking in everything.

“Welcome, it’ll be just a mome-“ a deep, gruff voice called out to them, but stopped when the owner of said voice turned around to face them. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” The man was bald, but had a bushy moustache that curled up when he smiled at the raven.

Levi nodded back. “Pixis,” he said in greeting as the older gentleman made his way over to them. Levi held out a hand for him to shake, but Pixis just pushed it aside and wrapped Levi up in a big bear hug. Levi chuckled and hugged (or to the extent that Levi hugged) back. Pixis let Levi go, looking down at him.

“Nice to see you too,” Levi said.

Okay, wait. Who was this person that could hug Levi like that and _not_ be afraid that the man would cause bodily harm and holy _shit_ was Levi actually smiling?! Eren could’ve died and gone (back) to heaven right then and there.

Eren was standing slightly behind Levi, watching the whole exchange.

“And who is this?” Pixis asked, motioning to Eren.

“This is Eren, a new business partner. Just showing him the ropes,” Levi responded, looking back at the brunet.

“Ah,” Pixis smiled warmly but had a pitying expression in his eyes. “Well nice to meet you Eren,” Eren nodded back, “Let’s get you two a seat, shall we?”

Eren and Levi followed Pixis as he led the two to a booth by a window that overlooked the road. Pixis set down two small menus in front of them and excused himself. Eren watched him leave the table as Levi flipped through the little breakfast menu.

“So, uh, a friend of yours?” Eren asked hesitantly.

“More or less. He took me in for a while when I was younger,” Levi responded, not looking up from what he was reading. Eren narrowed his eyes slightly, silently asking for a more in depth explanation. Levi sighed. “He used to run a boys’ home.”

Eren’s brows quirked up. “What were you in a boys’ home for?”

Levi folded the menu and leaned back in the booth, looking up at Eren. “Got caught stealing, my dad didn’t want to deal with me.” He shrugged.

“Oh yeah, what were you stealing, cigarettes?” Eren said in a light, sarcastic tone.

“Peanut butter.”

“Peanut butter?”

“Yeah, my little sister liked peanut butter on her sandwiches.”

Levi seemed to go rigid, even if it was just slight. His jaw clenched and his eyes darted from Eren’s. Eren opened his mouth to speak, but Pixis appeared seemingly out of nowhere with two mugs and a pitcher of hot coffee. Levi had to tip him extra for his impeccable timing.

“You boys know what you’d like?” Pixis said, pouring the mugs full and picking up the menus and putting them under his arm. Eren fumbled for words and just ordered pancakes since he didn’t really look at the menu and Levi just said “the usual”. Pixis jotted it down on a ticket pad and left just as fast as he came.

Levi poured a bit of sugar in his coffee, the spoon tinking on the edge of the mug as he did so. Eren watched Levi over the rim of his mug as he took a sip. The raven was quiet, his eyes unblinking as he stared down, seemingly into space. With what Levi said, it was obvious he hadn’t meant to, and that it was a sore subject for him, so Eren dropped it.

“So,” he began, setting down his coffee, “The case. A shape shifter, you think?”  Levi was knocked from his stupor, looking back up at the brunet.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I mean that seems to be the most logical.” Levi stopped his stirring and put the spoon on a napkin.

“How does one hunt a shape shifter, exactly?” Eren folded his hands on the table.

“Well they’re tricky little bastards, that’s for sure. But once one of them gets on a killing spree like this, they tend to get sloppy; making them easier to track,” Levi took a sip of coffee, “Now there’s a few things you should know before we start on this case. Shape shifters are able to change into any person; all they have to do is have some kind of physical contact with the person they want to shift into, so you need to be careful about that.”

Eren listened intently. Levi was no longer in his melancholy dazed state from moments earlier. Now that he was thinking about a hunt, he was completely focused and turned into the Levi that Eren found intriguing.

“Shifters have intolerance to silver as well; their skin burns on contact. An easy way to check if someone is a shifter is to have them hold a silver object or cut them with something made from silver.”

“So _that’s_ why Hanji made me hold a spoon,” Eren mumbled. He just thought it was a weird thing that the eccentric woman would do, just because she was that kind of character. But he hadn’t figured he was testing him to be a shifter.

Levi hummed, hearing Eren even though he whispered it. Before Levi could say anything else, warm plates of food were laid out in front of the two. As if on cue, Eren’s stomach let out a silent growl at the sight of the pancakes on his plate. Levi thanked Pixis who was leaning on Levi’s side of the booth.

After asking if they needed anything, Pixis left the two alone to their own devices. Eren wasted no time in digging into his syrupy pancakes, his eyes rolling into the back of his head at how fucking _delicious_ these things were.

Eren leaned back in his seat, letting out a moan that had Levi nearly choking on his coffee.

“Holy shit, these are probably the best fucking pancakes I’ve _ever_ had.”

“That good, huh?” Levi said after he composed himself. Eren only hummed an affirmation in response before digging into his breakfast. Levi watched the brunet practically inhale his food, eating like it was the first meal he had had in days.

Levi picked at his food, as he usually did, taking turns in watching Eren demolish his meal and looking around the restaurant. It was a place he remembered fondly; it being something that was like a second home for him for a while. Pixis’s restaurant was just starting up when he was in the boys’ home. Because of that, Pixis had some of the older boys work in the restaurant to save some money and keep them in an environment where Pixis could keep an eye on them and they’d be doing something beneficial. Levi mainly worked in the kitchen, being the one Pixis trusted in keeping the other boys in line. Levi smiled lightly at the memory,

Eren sighed heavily and rested his head on the back of the booth. His plate had been scraped clean, syrupy remains being the only indication that there had been food there in the first place.

“Didn’t know this was a race,” Levi said teasingly while taking another bite out the piece of bacon in his hand. Eren shot him a look that had Levi letting out an amused huff.

Levi could see Eren swallow thickly as he kept glancing looks at his plate that still had a bit of food on it.

“Do you want some?” Levi offered. Eren’s eyes shot up to his. The puppy-dog eyes that Eren had on had Levi’s heart wrenching in a bout of affection. He hated it.

He nudged the plate a bit closer to Eren. Eren shifted his eyes from the plate back to Levi. He raised a hand to the plate hesitantly, looking as if Levi was going to bite off his hand at any minute. The raven nodded towards the plate, giving another confirmation. Eren took a piece of bacon that was sitting there, practically calling out to him, and nibbled it happily.

“I think because of the awakening of whatever bit of grace you have left, your metabolism has spiked up,” Levi thought out loud. This kind of thing has happened before when they went out for food.

“Sounds legit,” Eren said after he finished the bacon, “Lately I haven’t been feeling hungry until I actually see food.”

“Well, I guess angels don’t really eat.”

Eren was quiet as he looked down. The whole idea of him actually being an angel was still foreign to him. How could he have lived his 23 years of life without knowing something as devastatingly important as that? Setting that fact aside, how old was Eren _actually_ , anyway? A few couple centuries? A few millennia? The whole thing made Eren’s head swim.

He let out an airy chuckle to cover up his internal battle. “Yeah, I guess.”

The two sat for a while more, both of them nibbling off of Levi’s plate until it was empty while Levi explained shape shifters and the most effective way of hunting them. Apparently, when shape shifters changed form, they shed their skin. Like literally. The only way they can shift is if they peel off of the skin they wore at the moment. That’s why they dwell in places that people usually don’t go. An ideal environment for them is somewhere dark and damp.

After Eren got the basics on shape shifter hunting, Pixis made another appearance. Levi went for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans but paused when the older man made a noise of protest.

“Don’t you dare boy, this one’s on the house.”

“Ah, come on Pixis, just this time, how ‘bout?” Levi responded in a light tone of voice.

“Seeing you is payment enough. Speaking of which, how long’s it been?”

“I know, I know, work’s just been busy lately.”

Pixis shook his head and tsk’ed. He heaved a heavy sigh. “I worry about you, boy, you know that?” He clapped a large hand on Levi’s shoulder. “And let me guess, you’re on the job now?” Levi nodded and he shook his head again, this time turning to Eren who was watching the whole exchange fondly. “You keep this one out of trouble, ‘lright Eren?”

Eren chuckled lightly. “Will do, sir.”

“I like this one, Levi. He calls me sir.” Pixis grinned and Levi rolled his eyes.

“Don’t let it get to your head, old man.” Levi stood from his seat, Eren following suit. Pixis wrapped Levi in a crushing one-armed hug before patting him roughly on the back.

“I don’t expect you to be a stranger, now,” he raised an eyebrow at the raven. “It was good to see you, Levi. And nice to meet you Eren.” Eren smiled back in response.

“Well, we need to get going,” Levi said, looking to the clock mounted on the wall, “we’ve got a long day’s drive ahead of us.”

“Ah, yes, yes. And remember Levi, I’m just a phone call away.”

“Thank you, Pixis.” They said their farewells with a simple nod of the head. Levi watched Pixis walk off and disappear into a back room. He let out a little sigh. “You ready?” he turned to Eren.

The whole while Eren was watching how much Levi changed around someone he was familiar with in a situation outside of the bunker. His guard seemed to be lessened, his head held more high. It seemed that the more and more time Eren spent around Levi the more and more the man surprised him.

When Levi looked to Eren, the younger man had a small smile on his face and a look in his eyes that made his heart jump a little in his chest. Dammit.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t be a little shit, what is it?”

Eren shook his head and Levi rolled his eyes. He mumbled a ‘let’s go’ and started off towards the entrance once more, Eren on his heels.

-+-

When Levi had said they had a long drive ahead of them, he didn’t sugar coat it. By the time the sun was past being straight up above, Eren’s legs had become cramped feeling from being confined to the car for a few hours now. His joints seemed to creak as he shifted in his seat for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last two hours.

Levi seemed to have no problem with it. That or he was just used to the long drives. Eren bet on the latter.

Eren shifted so he was resting in the seat more on his side, facing towards Levi. Music seemed to always be playing the car, and Eren didn’t mind it. It gave the car a sense of familiarity and gave it character. Plus, Levi didn’t have that bad of music taste.

The only downfall to having music playing softly and the sound of the impala’s engine grumbling beneath them was that it had a tendency to make Eren relax.

So much so that eventually, with his new sitting position, Eren was lulled to sleep by the sounds of the car driving down the highway and the melodies that played out of the speakers.

When Levi glanced over, he was greeted with the sight of Eren half curled up in the seat, his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted. Levi didn’t notice the smile on his face as he looked back to the road.

He let out a long breath and leaned back in his seat. They had been driving for a few hours now and they were close to the Colorado border. The setting sun was starting to turn the sky shades of orange and pink towards the horizon. Levi unrolled his window and let an arm hang out.

His mind kept wandering back to his slip of tongue back at the restaurant. He hadn’t talked about his sister in years, and the fact that Eren was able to tear down Levi’s guard even for just a second ate at the man. It had been a long time since he felt that sense of comfort around someone else like that.

A heavy sigh that turned into a growl at the end left Levi as he tried his best to ignore it. This boy was going to be the death of him.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I promised to protect her and I failed. I failed the only family I ever had and it was all because I messed up. And I did the stupidest thing I could’ve done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The EreRi ship has sailed, my friends!  
> No, but seriously like half of this is smut, so.
> 
> In other news, I made a playlist for this fic because I have no life *quiet sobbing*  
> \--> http://8tracks.com/zwarzy/angel-eyes  
> \----  
> My tumblr is http://r-ebelcas.tumblr.com  
> I track the tags: OMAMbc

By the time Eren woke up, the car was off and the sun was down. Eren raised his head from the back of the seat from where it was resting and popped a crick out of his neck. Levi wasn’t currently in the car, but came into view after he walked out of motel lobby carrying a room key. Levi looked up and pocketed the key as he approached the car.

“Evening,” he said as he got in the driver’s seat. Eren hummed in response, stretching his legs and arms out. Levi started up the engine again earning a confused look from Eren.

“Where we goin’?”

“Out. I need a drink,” he mumbled the last part as he looked back to back out of the motel parking spot.

“On a case?”

“All work and no play makes Levi a dull boy,” Levi smirked towards Eren who just snorted at his reasoning. Eren wasn’t complaining too much though; he could definitely use a drink as well.

-+-

Soon, Eren found himself following Levi into a local, dimly lit bar. There were a good amount of tables filled up since it was a Friday night, and a few waitresses veered around the patrons of the bar skillfully.

Levi had on his old, well-worn leather jacket with a tight fitting grey t-shirt underneath. Eren thought his get-up would’ve looked a tad cheesy on someone else, but the man pulled it off pretty damn well. Eren himself was only clad in a pair of jeans and an unbuttoned flannel over a dark tank top.

The two walked in, Levi sauntering over to the bar on the left side of the room, with Eren following him. Indecipherable music played out of old speakers, but the sounds of people talking and the sound of others playing pool was louder.

Eren sat on a stool, slightly turned away, with his elbow resting on the hard surface of the bar. The phone in his pocket had been eerily quiet for days. He figured Mikasa or Armin would’ve called him or shot him a text as soon as they could’ve, but all he had gotten was radio silence. It made Eren fidget with nervousness and that just made him annoyed.

He was knocked from his worrying temporarily by Levi flicking his elbow. When he turned his attention to the man, Levi nodded to the full glass sitting in front of Eren. The brunet mumbled a hurried ‘thanks’ and grabbed his drink, taking a long sip.

He sat like that, looking around the bar while nursing his drink. Levi on the other hand wasted no time in slamming down his first drink and ordering a second. Eren watched him worriedly out of the corner of his eye. The raven was mostly silent, his back turned to the rest of the establishment, picking at a spot with his nail on the hard surface of the counter in front of him.

“Hey, are you alright?” Eren finally asked.

Levi looked up. “Hmm? Yeah, why?”

Eren paused for a moment. “Nothing. Never mind.”

 Levi sighed, putting down his now empty second drink and finally turning to the rest of the bar. He jumped down from his stool (which Eren had to bite back a smile at) and ruffled up his hair, a few strands looking out of place.

“Be right back,” he faked a drunk saunter and walked over to the college students that were playing pool. When he reached the trio, Levi said something that Eren couldn’t make out. The students looked apprehensive, but quickly rethought when Levi pulled out several bills from his wallet and put them on the edge of the pool table.

Eren sat on his stool with his back leaning on the bar itself, watching with an amused smile Levi playing drunk and conning the poor kids out of their money.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eren saw someone take a seat where Levi sat moments before. Not paying much mind to the stranger, Eren gulped down the remnants of his drink and put the now empty glass on the bar behind him.

Eren could see the man next to him glancing at him repeatedly out of the corner of his eye. He really hoped that the stranger would just keep it to his creepy glances that annoyed Eren, but that wish was quickly demolished after he opened his mouth to speak.

“Can I buy you another?” Eren looked over to him with only his eyes, seeing the stranger motion to the empty glass behind him.

“No, thanks, got to get up early in the morning.” Knowing Levi, that probably wasn’t a total lie. Eren tried his best ignoring him after that, watching Levi purposely play pool extremely badly so the college kids would continue to raise the stakes, but this man was adamant.

The stranger hummed, nodding slowly. Ignoring Eren’s obvious body language, the man swiveled his stool so he sat facing Eren, an elbow resting on the bar.

“Where are you from? You don’t look like you’re from ‘round these parts.”

 _Oh, if only you knew_. “Just around.” Eren replied coldly.

The man let out a low chuckle that made Eren’s skin crawl slightly. “Ah, a mysterious one are ya?”

Right after, Eren felt something touch his lower back and creep its way even lower, making his muscles seize.

“If you value having two hands, I _highly_ suggest you stop touching me.” Eren said, not trying to be discreet about it.

The man had leaned in closer and slipped his arm around Eren, his hand a heavy weight on the brunet’s lower back. The warning that Eren gave only made the man put more pressure and Eren could feel his fingers curl under his tank top slightly.

His green eyes widened, and he jumped up from his seat like he had been burned, and turned around, all within the blink of an eye. He shoved both his hands against the man’s chest, hard, making him get shoved off of his seat and fall to the hard ground with a painful sound thunk.

“I said don’t fucking touch me!” Eren spat at the man who was now trying to pull himself up from the filthy floor.

Meanwhile, Levi had convinced the kids he was playing against to bet enough money. After throwing away his drunken façade and whooping their asses in pool, he grabbed the stack of bills that accumulated on the side of the table and stuffed them in his pocket when he saw Eren jump up and throw the man to the floor.

Quickly making his way to Eren’s side, he glanced quickly between Eren and the stranger who had finally made it to his feet. Levi was about to ask what had happened when the man opened his mouth and spoke again.

“God, what the hell’s your problem, you fucking twink?!” the man favored leaning on the bar to keep the weight off his hip, which Levi couldn’t blame him for according to the crack that sounded out when he slammed into the ground.

“Hey! Watch your fucking mouth!” Levi snapped at the man, stepping closer, subconsciously putting himself between Eren and the man who posed as a threat to the brunet.

“Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it you midg-“

Before the man could even finish his sentence, Levi sent a fist flying straight into the man’s face, his nose shifting to an unnatural position, and his head sent reeling back from the impact.

“Hey! Both of you! Out, now!” the man behind the bar finally yelled out motioning to Eren and Levi.

The raven stood there, glaring daggers at the man that was groaning on the floor before directing a lesser glare towards the bartender and stomping off towards the door.

Eren followed after the fuming man, “accidently” stepping on the stranger’s hand and “accidently” grinding his heel into it a tad more than necessary.

Levi burst out of the doors, his shoulders hunched and mouth open as he let out heavy breaths. Eren stopped a bit out away from the doors, watching Levi pace back and forth in front of him.

The raven’s breath could be seen in the cold air as he huffed through his mouth, trying to calm himself down. He was muttering profanities under his breath as he shuffled back and forth.

“Levi-“

“Are you okay?” he finally asked, stopping momentarily to look at Eren.

“Levi, I’m fine, but you need-“

An almost feral growl left Levi’s mouth before he changed his direction and started stomping towards the doors again. “I should go back in there and rip his fucking lungs out.”

Eren stepped in front of Levi, the man immediately trying to move him out of the way.

“Okay- Levi, stop!” Eren grabbed Levi’s shoulders, holding him still in front of him. Eren’s sudden raise in voice startled Levi for a moment enough to knock him from his rage induced trance-like state. Eren locked eyes with him, his face close to Levi’s.

“What’s wrong with you lately? You’ve been off ever since we left the restaurant,” Eren questioned, his almost bruising grip on Levi’s shoulders not wavering. Levi dropped his gaze to the ground, his face trained back to its indecipherable mask.

After a few beats of silence, Eren’s hands finally let go of their grip and slid off of Levi’s arms. Levi finally looked up and his heart wrenched in guilt when he saw Eren’s face. The boy’s eyebrows were pulled up and together, his lips slightly parted, and his eyes were glassy as they sifted between each of Levi’s.

Levi clenched his jaw and turned around, heading for the car and getting inside. He rested his elbow on the inside of the door, resting his head against his fist. His eyes were looking at something in the distance, refusing to look at Eren,

Eren watched him move away without saying a word. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before making his own way to the car. As soon as he sat down and closed the door, Levi started up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

He drove down the darkened road, leaving the town far behind. No music played this time, the only sound that filled the cold night was the growling engine.

Eren had no idea where Levi was taking them, but he decided against saying anything, just putting his trust in the man.

They drove for a little while more, the road becoming curvier as they seemed to be ascending one of the many large hills that scattered the area. Eventually, Levi pulled off of the main road, the next one being much smaller and older than the previous one.

The little road eventually ended, and he pulled the car into the small open space it opened up to. The dirt crunched under the car’s tires as Levi pulled it up to what seemed to be cliff. From here, Eren could see the town they had just come from, the twinkling lights spread out between the hills and mountains like stars reflected in a lake.

Levi quickly turned off the car and wasted no time in getting out and walking to the front of the car, leaning the back of his legs against it.

Eren sat in the car for a few moments, before getting out himself. The cold evening air wrapped around him as soon as he stepped out of the car and treaded lightly over to where Levi was resting. Eren went and stood to the right of Levi, leaning the back of his thighs against the car as well, looking out over the drop off and out over the twinkling town.

“I’ve messed up, Eren,” Levi’s voice broke the silence, his gaze still directed out in front of him. Eren looked over to him when he spoke, quiet so he could continue.

“All throughout my life I’ve let down the people that meant the most to me. I’ve let down my dad. Myself. My sister.” His voice broke a miniscule amount when he mentioned her. He looked down at his feet before sniffling and looking back up, his red-rimmed eyes turning glassy.

“Now my sister,” he let out a humorless chuckle, “ever since she was born, I felt the need to protect her. And in this line of business, that was almost impossible to achieve. My dad was gone on hunts by himself a lot when we were young, so I was the one to raise her.”

Eren kept his eyes on Levi the whole time, but the man never once looked his direction.

“She was a stubborn little shit at times,” another airy chuckle left him before he fell silent for a moment, “But she was the only family I really had for the longest time. And when my dad died, it was just the two of us, roaming the states taking on cases here and there.”

The air around them suddenly felt constricting as Levi looked down at the ground again.

“And,” he took a deep breath in through his mouth, “on one of those cases. I failed her.”

Levi started to get angry, but only at himself.

“I promised to protect her, and I failed. I failed the only family I ever had and it was all because I messed up.”

He held his hands out near his waist, seething at them, willing back tears.

“She died in arms. I felt her heart stop beating.”

He put his arms down, looking to Eren.

“And I did the stupidest thing I could’ve done.”

He sniffled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand while looking back out over the town.

“I sold my soul. I sold my _worthless fucking soul_. Only because I couldn’t live with myself being alone.”

He looked to Eren whose eyes had widened ever so slightly. He let out slightly crazed huff that could’ve passed off as a laugh.

“I don’t even own my own soul anymore. I am condemned to hell, and my time is almost up.”

He went quiet after that, a single rouge tear sliding down in cheek.

“And because I did that, she came back. She came back just like how she used to be, except she had no fucking clue who I was. She didn’t remember me, she didn’t remember dad, she didn’t even remember what we were. So I got her back. But she still left me.”

Levi’s eyes were trained ahead of him.

“But I guess that’s what I do. I let down the people I love.”

“Levi,” Eren whispered, his chest aching for the raven. Tears had been brought to his own eyes and he reached over the small distance to him, grabbing his jacket.

Levi didn’t compute what was happening until he felt two lips press against his own. Eren held each side of his face with his hands. In all honestly, Eren didn’t know what he was doing, but all he wanted to do was kiss the sad out of him.

Levi eventually closed his eyes and leaned more into the kiss, one of his hands wrapping around the back of Eren’s neck, bringing him down closer. Eren leaned to the side to deepen the kiss, Levi following along. Levi parted his lips slightly, Eren’s slotting perfectly with his.

They held each other like that before they parted slowly, Levi’s hand still on the back of Eren’s neck. They rested their foreheads together, neither opening their eyes in case this was all a dream. The air around them didn’t seem so cold anymore and Eren rubbed slow circles on Levi’s cheekbone, both of them just drinking in the other’s presence.

Levi was the first to open his eyes and he looked up into Eren’s which fluttered open shortly after.

Levi lost himself in the catacombs that were Eren’s eyes. The boy’s cheeks were dusted with blush when Levi stared at him unwavering. Levi’s hand started to drop from the back of Eren’s neck, so the brunet took it as a sign to step off.

When Eren did start to back away, Levi roughly grabbed the front of Eren’s unbuttoned flannel with both hands, yanking him flush against him, and smashing his lips back onto Eren’s. Eren’s mouth gaped slightly in surprise, so Levi took the opportunity and wasted no time in exploring Eren’s mouth with his tongue. An airy groan left Eren when he felt the intrusion from Levi.

Eren turned to mush and he easily let Levi take control, his arms wrapping around the man’s neck. He could taste the bitterness of alcohol and the sweetness that was Levi as he continued to fall deeper and deeper into the man’s spell. Eren was practically buzzing, getting high on Levi’s presence alone. The raven was everywhere; he could smell his lemongrass shampoo, taste him on his tongue and feel him through every pore of his body. At that moment, there was nothing else but Levi. His mind had gone silent except for one mantra running through his mind.

_LeviLeviLeviLeviLeviLeviLevi._

 

Eren couldn’t help the low moan that left his lips when Levi snaked his hand under the back of his shirt and the waistband of his jeans and grabbed his already sensitive flesh.

Levi let out something like a possessive growl and started easily guiding Eren backwards. The brunet conformed to the steps Levi pushed him to take until his back hit the side of the car. Levi’s lips left Eren’s and moved to the corner of his mouth, trailing hungry kisses down his jaw teasing his exposed throat as he fumbled for the car door handle.

Finally succeeding in opening the door, he wrapped his arms around the boy’s waist, moving him and gently laying him down onto the back seats of the car. They broke away when Levi closed the door behind him, taking a seat straddling Eren.

Eren watched him with eyes blown with arousal; his wet lips bruised a dark pink. The sight of Eren in his current state taking haggard breaths through parted lips was enough in itself to send jolt down Levi’s whole body to his already half-hard length. Levi quickly shed his jacket, throwing into a front seat, Eren fumbling with his flannel. Levi leaned over and helped Eren in sliding his tank top off, exposing Eren to the cold air. Levi wasted no time in sliding his hands everywhere he could, mapping out Eren’s skin with his fingertips.

Leaning down, Levi started littering Eren’s neck with sloppy kisses. At his pulse point, he latched onto the brunet’s neck, teeth pinching his warm skin. Of one Eren’s hands shot up to the back of Levi’s head, running his fingers through the dark locks when he felt the bite, a gasp being sucked into his lungs. He placed a gentle kiss on the already healing bite as an apology and continued his trek downwards; his hands held an almost bruising grip on Eren’s hips, holding him in place as Eren started to fidget for friction. Reaching his naval, Levi licked a tantalizingly slow lick back up Eren’s torso again before claiming his lips once more.

Become impatient, Eren clumsily wrapped his fingers around the end of Levi’s remaining shirt, tugging it upwards. Levi let him pull the shirt over his head, it being dropped to the floor. Eren ran his hands down Levi’s now exposed skin, feeling how each powerful muscle rolled with every movement and how they contracted with every breath. Eren’s thumbs grazed over pale, raised lines that were scattered over Levi. Scars he no doubt obtained from his lifestyle, each one telling a story.

Levi watched Eren’s eyes rake over him, his touches gentle over places that were used to being treated with lethal force. He didn’t deserve the way Eren would lightly skate his hands over his sides to his back, or the way Eren’s eyes were glossy with adoration when they met Levi’s once again. He wasn’t worthy of this.

Seeing a slight change in Levi, Eren leaned up, placing a kiss on his temple, and wrapped his arms underneath Levi’s, slowly dragging him closer.

Placing himself between Eren’s spread legs, he pressed flush against the hot skin of the brunet, and started littering Eren’s neck with fast healing hickeys. Using the hand that wasn’t holding him up, he ran it down Eren’s chest and found a pert nipple, playing with it with his fingers.

“Le- hah!” Eren’s back arched up at the unexpected contact, his fingers encasing themselves in his dark hair. Levi said nothing, but instead rolled his hips in one fluid motion, grinding their clothed erections together. Eren groaned, hips involuntary jerking upwards to find friction again. Levi replaced his hand with his mouth over Eren’s abused nipple, tongue flicking over the perked nub. His hand instead travelled south again, grabbing Eren through his jeans.

Eren let out a moan that he probably would’ve been embarrassed of, but was too busy with being surrounded by Levi’s presence and his electrifying touch. The little noises that escaped Eren just drove Levi further. Unlatching from his chest, Levi looked up. Eren’s eyes were closed, his head thrown back.

“Look at me, Eren.” Levi stopped fondling the brunet’s erection, looking expectantly down at him. Eren’s head tilted back towards Levi’s voice, his eyes slowly opening. His eyes were more black than green, his pupils blown wide. The thumb on Levi’s free hand drug lightly over Eren’s bottom lip and down his chin. He looked so fragile like this; blush painted over his cheeks, breathing in broken huffs of air, a look of lust and trust in his eyes.

Without breaking eye contact, he skillfully undid the button and zipper on Eren’s jeans with one hand. Eren practically trembled with anticipation. Levi removed his hands, instead slowly tugging Eren’s jeans off. Once that was out of the way, Levi dived down, his hands gripping Eren’s hips down, and licked a stripe up Eren’s length through his boxers.

One of Eren’s hands flung down to Levi’s hair, the other gripping the back of the seat, his nails digging into the leather.

“Ha- Dammit, Levi!” Eren groaned frustrated when the raven continued to tease him. He felt Levi chuckle against the inside of his thigh. Levi went back up, looking at Eren again, his fingers leaving feather light touches until they hooked around the band.

“Do you trust me, Eren?” he asked, eyes searching his. Eren didn’t trust his voice at the moment so he only nodded. Quickly, Levi took Eren’s length in his hand, giving one, good pump. A moan left Eren, finally getting some kind of relief. Levi leaned down, nibbling the brunet’s ear, while moving his arm up and down at a steady pace.

One of Eren hands fumbled down until it came into contact with Levi’s still clothed erection. With extreme clumsiness, he hastily undid his jeans and wasted no time in taking Levi in his hand. Levi let out an airy groan at that contact, his hot breaths dusting down Eren’s neck. Eren’s hands came to the head, thumbing the slit, making Levi buck into Eren’s hand.

Levi let out a throaty growl, and right as Eren could start to feel warmth pool in his stomach, Levi let go of Eren, earning a whine from the brunet. Instead, he raised two fingers to Eren’s mouth. Without needing to be told what to do, Eren greedily took the digits in his mouth, his tongue curling around each one, slathering them in spit. Levi took his fingers from Eren’s mouth, a line of spit connecting them the Eren’s tongue, and shoved Eren’s boxers all the way off.

Now with nothing in the way, Levi took one digit sliding it around Eren’s entrance. The brunet shivered at the contact, pressing down on Levi’s fingers, trying to get him to hurry up. Levi then slid the one finger through the ring of muscle, pausing so Eren could adjust. An airy gasp left Eren, his fingers digging into Levi’s broad shoulders. Eren ground down, Levi taking the hint as he started to move the single digit. He was gentle at first, letting Eren get used to it before adding a second finger.

Eren wrapped his legs around the raven’s waist. His heartbeat pounded in his ears and he would’ve been surprised if Levi couldn’t feel it himself. He let out heavy breaths, the windows of the car becoming fogged up from the difference of temperatures in and out of the car.

Eren began to get impatient until Levi curled his fingers, and a jolt of white hot pleasure rippled up his spine, causing his back to arch into Levi’s chest. He let out a noise something akin to a whine and Levi came up, claiming his lips, swallowing every little noise the brunet made. Levi continued to abuse Eren’s spot, adding a third finger somewhere during that time.

Angry red lines raked down Levi’s alabaster flesh when Eren drug his nails down his shoulders, his mouth latching onto his neck. Eren assaulted his neck with sloppy kisses before choosing a spot and taking the skin between his teeth, a lovely red bruise being left behind.

Levi took his fingers back, prepping his length with pre come and Eren’s left over saliva. He lined himself up with Eren’s entrance looking to the brunet, his eyebrows quirking up in a silent question. Eren only nodded his heels pressing into Levi’s lower back. Levi groaned through clenched teeth as he slowly pushed himself in. He buried his face in the crook of Eren’s neck, lips dragging over the burning skin, as one of his free hands took one of Eren’s, lacing their fingers together by the brunet’s head.

Eren could feel Levi’s hot breath trickle down his bare skin, he could feel every soft but sturdy touch he gave the brunet. It made Eren’s heart flutter at the thought of how gentle Levi treated him, when he was born and raised as a human weapon. His hands, which were used to the cold metal of a gun traced along Eren’s sides, leaving his skin tingling along after, the same hands that have taken countless lives, human and not, laced with Eren’s, his thumb running over each bump of Eren’s knuckles. This man was a battle tested soldier, yet he treated Eren like a china doll, like he was afraid to break him. Everything seemed to click together for Eren at that moment: he trusted Levi.

And in turn he felt _safe_.

Levi, now fully sheathed, placed one last kiss to the side of Eren’s throat before pulling his hips back. Eren’s eyes clenched shut, his rosy lips open in as he drowned in every feeling and thought he experienced. A sudden, jerk of Levi’s hip had a moan rip from his throat, his lust-blown cerulean eyes whipping open. Another roll of Levi’s hips had Eren gasping out his name with a broken voice. Levi kept his pace, hitting Eren’s spot with an accuracy that was almost cruel. Eren arched into Levi’s chest, feeling the man’s rapid heartbeat through his ribs.

Letting go of Eren’s hand, he wasted no time in taking Eren into his hand, pumping in time to his thrusts. Eren took his now free hand and buried it in Levi’s dark hair, his fingers brushing against the man’s undercut.

Eren could feel himself and Levi coming undone. His mind was not coherent. He could feel the coil in his stomach tightening with every movement. He was climbing higher and higher, now almost teetering on the edge.

“Levi, I’m- Hah, I’m gonna-“ Eren couldn’t form a coherent sentence with his wrecked voice and equally wrecked mind. He tightened his grip on Levi’s hair.

“I’ve got you,” Levi said lowly in his ear.

And Eren fell.

His head a thrown back, a silent yell making his mouth gape open, white covering his vision. He could feel Levi  close to the edge himself, his thrusts becoming sloppier, his breaths more ragged. With a  single drawn out moan of his name, he was sent over, pulling out and coming himself on Eren’s stomach.

They were both still, their heavy breaths the only sound that was hearable. Finally back to earth once more, Levi raised himself up from Eren, and reached up into the glove department, grabbing tissues. He gently cleaned Eren off, the brunet in a seemingly lucid state.

Once he was clean, Levi wrapped Eren up in his arms, switching their positions so he lay half sitting against the car door with Eren’s back pressed to his chest.

Eren could feel Levi’s heartbeat slowdown against his back, and he could feel fingers carding through his hair.

Outside, small puffs of snow started to fall silently, melting quickly as it reached the earth. They sat like that, both coming down from their highs. Eren found one of Levi’s hands and threaded his fingers with his, the sense of safety lulling him into contentment.

No ringing bothered Eren at this moment; the only sounds he could hear being the world outside and Levi’s heartbeat echoing throughout his bones.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been a while! I am so sorry this took so long, classes started up again and I have just been all over the place lately. However, that will not stop me, so you lovelies go ~
> 
> OH, AND ANOTHER THING, magickitt on tumblr made an amazing fanart that made me squeal for like an hour, thank you!
> 
> \--  
> My tumblr: r-ebelcas.tumblr.com  
> 8 Tracks mix for this fic: clicky!

“Woah!” an excited whisper shot through the dark, “Bro, check this out!” There was rustling. Levi turned his flashlight over, illuminating a figure placing a large, tall hat on her bright, red hair. She straightened her stance.

 “Four score, and seven years ago… I had a funny hat,” she spoke in a ridiculously deep voice, her little act coming undone by the fit of giggles that came afterwards.

“Keep quiet, Izzy, it could still be here,” Levi whispered back, motioning for his sister to keep moving. She pouted, placing the hat back where she found it, flicking on her own flashlight.

The old cabin seemed to be have been deserted for years. Dust covered nearly every square inch of the place, and cobwebs decorated the old, broken knick-knacks that were scattered around the rooms. Levi began scanning the ground. He was almost tempted to tie his bandana around his face to keep the dust out of his lungs.

A sneeze from behind him had his hand shooting his holstered gun while he whipped around. Isabel rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, big green eyes looking at Levi. “Sorry,” she whispered. Relaxing, Levi removed his hand from his gun, rolled his eyes and turned back around. Their boots crunched along the ground. Levi reached a door, and opened the old piece of wood, a godawful squeak ripping from its hinges.

Opening the door wide enough for them to squeeze past, Levi looked out of the doorway, his flashlight lighting up shapes and silhouettes of a hallway. Walking all the way out, with Isabel on his heels, he found two rooms, each on the opposite side of each other.

“You take that one,” Levi motioned to the door to the left, making his own way to the other door. Isabel was silent as she crept along, opening the door, her gun in her hand, and finger on the trigger. She opened the door, scanning around quickly before stepping in. Levi watched her disappear into the room before doing the same to the other. The door was quiet as it swung open with ease, his gun positioned above his flashlight as he cleared the room.

It was quiet throughout the cabin, moonlight filtering in through filthy, broken windows.  Dried up leaves and other various items that had accumulated on the floor crunched under his boots with every slow step he took.

Both of their guns were loaded with silver bullets, as that was appropriate to take down a rouge werewolf.

Levi had finished scanning the room, it seemingly empty. He lowered his gun, doing one last sweep of the room just to make sure, and swiveled on his heel to meet back up with Isabel. He froze when he heard crashing in the other room.

He bolted from his spot, tearing from the room and barreling into the next. He slammed the door open, his gun cocked and aimed in front of him.

A beast of a being stood in front of the raven, its back facing him. He heard a strangled yelp from the other side of the creature. On instinct, he pulled the trigger, the silver bullet lodging into the back of the wolf’s head. It faltered before collapsing to its side. Levi lowered his gun. Isabel stood there still, mouth slightly gaping.

“Levi,” she said in a broken whisper. Slowly, a small dot of darkness bled into the front of her tank top until it became a spot as big as her stomach. She fell forward. Levi ran over to her, hopping over the corpse of the werewolf and catching her against his chest.

“Hey, hey,” Levi whispered back, his voice not able to get any authority behind it. He slowly lowered them down until he was kneeling on the ground; Isabel laid out in his arms. His blood ran cold when he saw the extent of her bloodied shirt.

She coughed roughly, a trail of red dripping down the corner of her mouth as she gripped the sleeve of Levi’s jacket. She looked up at him with glassy eyes wide in fear and pain. Every time she tried to speak, a gurgly splutter echoed deep in her throat instead.

“Shh, shh,” he cooed, his voice shaky. His mind was everywhere yet nowhere. He could feel his heart beat in his ears. He began to rock her back and forth, a shaky hand running over her forehead to push back sweaty bangs. There was nothing he could do to save her, and he knew it.

“Look, I’m here, nothing’s going to get you, okay? I’ve got you,” his voice cracked. A tear escaped her eyes, her breaths becoming shallow and forced. He leaned over, a lump forming in his throat from choking back his own tears. He pressed the side of her face into his chest, continuing with the slow rocking. A drawn out breath left his mouth before he began to sing into her ear in a whisper.

“Hey, Jude, don’t make it bad.”

She choked down another swallow of air, Levi’s eyes clenching shut.

“Take a sad song and make it better.”

His voice cracked and he forced a whimper away.

“Remember to let her into your heart, then you can make it better.”

He felt her heart jolt against his chest; when she sucked in one last lungful of air.

“Hey, Jude, don’t be afraid.”

The grip on his sleeve slackened. He could feel the air brush against his neck when she let out her last exhale.

His grip on her tightened, his eyes still shut. He shoved his face in her hair. And only then did he allow himself to cry. A stuttering sob left him as he continued to rock them, his tears, however sparse they may have been, wetting her red hair. He seemed to curl in on himself, shaking his head like he was trying to convince himself that this wasn’t really happening, that he wasn’t just left alone, that he didn’t just fail the only family he had left.

Levi felt the warmth leave her body, now only being a cold dead weight in his arms. He leaned back up again, looking down at his little sister. Her unseeing eyes stared at nothing in front of her. His jaw clenched until he could hear his teeth grit together. With a now steady hand, he gently dragged his hands over her eyes until they closed underneath his fingertips. He drug his thumb under one of her now closed eyes, wiping off any drying tears that streaked down the side of her face. He cleaned her face off from any blood with his bandana.

She looked so peaceful like this. Her young looking face reminded him of when she used to fall asleep in his lap in the back of their dad’s car when he was on a late night hunt. Even now, he could hear little Izzy’s laughter when she made Levi continue some Ghost Busters quote as their dad just shook his head in the driver’s seat, a small smile on his lips.

A little chuckle left Levi at the memory of all the trouble he and Isabel would get into, each and every time Levi taking the blame so she could get out of whatever punishment their father laid them out with. He pushed the bangs away from her forehead once more, looking out to a broken window. The night outside was quiet. He could hear crickets and owls as the stars stared down at him from above. He let out a truly defeated sigh.

“What am I supposed to do, Izzy?”

-+-

When Eren woke up, the first thing he could recognize was the feeling of sheets between his fingers and a pillow underneath his head. He nestled in more to the warm bed while his brain slowly woke up. As if a switch was turned on, every memory of last night flooded back to him in a rush. His eyes whipped open and he could feel his cheeks heat up.

Getting ahold of himself, he eventually sat up, the sheets pooling in his lap. He was in a motel room, his and Levi’s bags on the small, round table against the opposite wall. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed he was dressed in his tank top from the previous day as well as his jeans. Turning his legs around to hang off the side of the bed, he noticed the other bed wasn’t disturbed, still made.

Eren got up, patting down his bed head and shuffled towards the door. He peeked his head out, expecting Levi to be leaning against the wall or in the general vicinity of, but it was quiet outside save for the cars on the road. He was about to go back inside when he heard the familiar growl of the impala’s engine as the black car turned off the road and wheeled into a parking spot. Eren leaned on the door frame.

Levi soon emerged from the car, dressed up in his fake FBI attire. He walked his way up to Eren who was having an internal war considering what he remembered now in vivid detail.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Levi said, coming to a stop in front of Eren. The brunet rested the side of his head against the door frame as well, shoving his hands in his pockets and humming in reply.

“What were you doing?” Eren motioned to Levi’s get up.

“Just getting more detail of the case. I’m about 102% it’s a shifter now, and it’s started to leave a trail.” Eren nodded, pushing up from the door frame and swiveling so Levi could enter the room. A deep sigh left the raven and he shed his suit jacket, placing it over the back of a chair. Eren stepped back inside, closing the door behind him.

“How long was I out?” Eren asked, looking out the window. The sun was already fairly high in the sky, considered how the clouds blotted the sky in grey.

“Hmm, it’s about 1:00 now,” Levi responded, glancing at his wristwatch.

“Holy shit, and you let me sleep that long?” Eren asked incredulous.

Levi shrugged while undoing his tie. “You seemed like you could use the rest.”

Eren rolled his eyes at the remark, the tips of his ears turning the slightest bit of pink. When Levi put his tie on the table, Eren was able to see a peek of the now purple-ing mark on the side of Levi’s throat. Eren held his head just a tad higher at the fact that Levi walked around today bearing Eren’s mark. Though, he felt a pang of disappointment at the fact that whatever Levi did to Eren would quickly heal into non-existence.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower,” Eren sauntered over to the small adjoined bathroom, slowly peeling off his tank top before he disappeared into the other room.

Levi huffed when he was gone, shaking his head, a small smile in the corner of his lips. He undid his tie, laying it over his bag that was sitting by the side of one of the beds on the floor. He toed off his shoes and plopped down on the squeaky mattress, grabbing his laptop from his bag and setting up against the headboard. He heard the shower turn on when his computer turned on. From there, he did his usual roundabouts on the internet, checking top stories and of the like. After his initial check, he focused on the area where the shifter had been making moves. Levi made a mental map of all the places that had murders committed the same way. The shifter had made somewhat of a trail, each one of its kills leading to the outer side of town. Something didn’t settle well with Levi. The trail was too obvious, too easy to figure out. It was almost like it knew they were after it.

He shook off the lingering doubt and smothered it by trying to come up with a game plan for tonight. If they were lucky, and Levi’s calculations were somewhat correct, they’d be able to trap the shifter tonight and close up the case.

The bathroom door opened and out emerged a shirtless Eren who was aggressively rubbing a towel over his head. Eren made his way over to the undisturbed bed, sitting on the edge facing Levi.

“So did you find out anything new?” Eren asked, settling the damp motel towel around his neck.

“Picked up a trail of sorts, it seems to be heading away from urban areas and more into rural places. Do you remember what I told you about how shape shifters dwell in hidden away moist areas?” Eren nodded, “Because I think its little home is somewhere by the last murder.”

Eren hummed. “It’s weird that it would kill so close to where it lives, I mean shouldn’t it be doing the opposite?”

“Yeah, it’s strange,” Levi mumbled, closing up his tabs and closing up his laptop. Placing it back in his bag, he stood from the bed and stretched his arms above his head.

Eren’s eyes narrowed. “Did you sleep last night?” He had noticed the slightly darker circles under the raven’s eyes and just the overall droopiness of them.

Levi walked a few steps away, giving a non-committal ‘Eh’ along with a shrug of his shoulders. He started undoing the buttons of his shirt.

“I can never figure out how you can function at the level you do with so little sleep.”

Levi huffed. “Oh, yeah? And what do you know about my sleeping patterns?”

“I know that you don’t get enough.”

Levi chuckled, taking off his shirt and folding it.

“Woah! Wait,” Eren began.

Levi looked back. “What?” he gave the brunet a questioning look. Eren got up, quickly making his way over. Levi started to turn around to face him but was stopped when Eren grabbed both of his shoulders, keeping him in place facing away from him. “What?” he asked again.

Feather light touches ran over his back, sending a shiver down his spine.

“You never told me you had a tattoo.” Eren traced the tattoo that was situated between Levi’s shoulder blades, just underneath the nape of his neck, its black ink a sharp contrast against his pale skin. Levi nodded slightly, finally understanding what Eren was so excited about.

“It’s an anti-possession tattoo,” Levi explained. The tracing from Eren’s fingers stopped.

“You mean like-?”

“Demonic and all that jazz, yeah.” Eren hummed, letting go of his grip on Levi’s shoulder. Levi turned around enough so that he could look at Eren.

“Fancy.”

Levi smiled. “Yeah.”

Eren’s eyes suddenly widened and he let in a gasp. “Does this mean I get a tattoo, too?”

“Well, I don’t know, considering you’re technically an angel an’ shit, you might not need it.” Eren slumped, his lower lip drawing out in a pout. Levi perked up onto his tippy toes, placing a quick peck on his lip before patting his chest. “But if it’ll make you feel better, maybe.” Levi walked around to his bag, pulling out a shirt and pulling it over his head.

The kiss, no matter how little and quick it was, left Eren stunned for a moment. Remembering to breathe, he turned on his heel, watching Levi cover himself up with fresh clothes.

“Get dressed, we’ll go stake out the place and see what comes up,” Levi addressed Eren after pulling his arms through his shirt. Eren nodded and did just that, the two falling into a comfortable silence.

-+-

Around the time the sun began its descent from the sky, Eren and Levi pulled up and parked in a hidden away dirt road, not far from the place on the map Levi had pointed out. They sat in the impala talking and listening to music, Eren initiating another game of 20 questions (it seemed to become their hunting ritual).

“Come one, just one word?” Eren whined.

“Nope.”

“But you can’t just say you know French and _not_ expect me to want to hear it.” Eren gave him a look. Levi, no matter how many times Eren would ask, would not enlighten the brunet in his bilingual ability. Levi shrugged.

Levi hadn’t spoken French since Isabel. No one other than Eren really knew that he even _could_ speak French. The only reason he was hesitant was because of that. Eren was already so much like the painful memory, he was afraid that if they had that in common as well, Levi would lose him as well.

“Maybe someday,” Levi said, looking out the windshield.

They parked in a spot where they were within a visual distance from the area on the map, and with the sun now gone and twilight in its place, Levi was especially on guard. Eren took a moment to mull over Levi’s statement. Even though the raven had said that every other time he asked, this time it sounded more like a promise than a dismissal.

“Hey,” Levi bumped Eren’s arm, getting his attention, “Let’s go.” Levi silently got out of the car, Eren following in turn. Levi went to the back of the car, unlocking the trunk and unveiling the supernatural armory of objects laid in neat order.

No matter how many times Eren saw the trunk; it always took him by surprise. In Eren’s defense, it wasn’t totally normal for loaded shotguns, machetes, and other things that looked more like instruments of torture than weapons to just be stored away in the back of a car.  Eren stayed his hands away from the full trunk, afraid to touch anything in case it goes off, or he mess up Levi’s system.

Levi, however, never batted an eye at the oddness (of course he had grown up with this, so this w _as_ his norm). He knew exactly where everything was, going in with confidence. He took his usual silver, ivory handled handgun and holstered it in the back of jean’s waistband. Next, he unsheathed two small daggers, methodically placing them in his boots. Finally, he handed Eren a gun as well, the metal heavy in the brunet’s hands. Copying Levi, he too holstered it in his waistband.

Levi closed the trunk with a clunk and wordlessly motioned Eren to follow him as he walked the long ways to the area.

Every trail the shape shifter had made led to an old ranch that hadn’t been inhabited for years. The house had been condemned, so now it and the dark looming barn just sat there as dry fire fuel.

Eren followed closely behind Levi, trying to copy his completely silent movements. Levi led them alongside a part of the barn, looking for a cellar or any other hide-away it could be lurking. Finding nothing, Levi motioned Eren to slow down as they neared the open door of the barn. He grabbed his gun and clicked the safety off, holding it out in front of him.

The two, now armed, stood just near the edge of the entrance. Eren could feel his heartbeat in his fingertips. Holding a gun was still a bit foreign to him, and the thought of having to hit a fast moving target seemed near impossible for him.

Levi held his gun close to his face before spinning on his heel into the entrance of the barn. He held the gun out in front of him, eyes scanning the dark for any kind of movement. Deeming it empty for now, he lowered his weapon slightly, jerking his head to signal Eren to follow. Doing just that, Eren stood more to the left of Levi, his eyes adjusting to the darker lighting of the inside of the barn.

The main light source was the luminescence of the full moon spilling in from a hole in the barn’s ceiling. It light up shapes of abandoned equipment stuffed away along the edges of the interior.

Something didn’t sit well with Levi.

This was all too familiar, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He had a feeling of impending doom from the place and the unexplainable déjà vu.

“What’s up?” Eren whispered, noticing Levi going ridged.

He shook his head slightly. “Just a bad feeling.”

Before any of them could respond, something flew at Levi from the corner of his eye, hitting him right on the back of his knee. He collapsed as he felt warmth start to spill from his skin. Eren eyes widened and he went to help, but something hit him square in the chest, the blow sending him flying backwards and the air being knocked from his lungs.

“Eren-!” Levi began to call out, but yet another thing came at him, this time slashing against his chest. He collapsed forwards, his forearms holding him up from the dirty barn floor. These cuts stung, making Levi hiss through his teeth.

From behind him, the thing that had cornered them in the barn walked over to him. It raised its foot, sending it down onto the raven’s back. Levi grunted as he was sent to the floor.

He felt cold hands grab his ankles and start to pull him backwards. Ignoring the sting in this chest and leg, he twisted around, flailing his legs in the process.  He got a good look at was toying with them. On the outside, it looked like a normal human male; however its eyes were painted black, just two gaping holes staring unblinkingly at Levi.

This was _not_ a shape shifter.

Before he could get one of his legs out of its grasp, Eren had gotten up and bolted towards the thing without thinking. He jumped and latched his arms around the thing’s neck. The surprise weight from behind had the thing letting go of Levi and tilting back.

“Eren, it’s not-!” Levi tried warning Eren of the demon he was now trying to man handle, but the demon grabbed Eren’s arms and flung him over its shoulders like he weighed nothing.

Levi rolled so he wasn’t crushed by the incoming brunet. Eren landed awkwardly next to him, wincing from the impact his head took on the barn floor.

The demon growled, grabbing Levi once more, this time just raking stinging claws down his calves. No noise escaped Levi but a pained gasp as the thing tore his skin.

Levi was not counting on a demon showing up. They had nothing with them that could injure demons. Bullets would just kill whoever they were possessing, and give the demon a good laugh.

Levi wrenched one of his legs away from the demon and sent it flying towards its head with all the force he could muster. He heard the human’s nose crunch, and the hit was hard enough that it was kicked away from the two.

There was no more energy left in the raven. He could feel his jeans sticking to his bloody legs, and the stinging was almost too much to bear.

Next to him, Eren had stumbled to his feet, his head spinning before settling. The demon whipped its head to the brunet, staring at him with dead, empty eyes.

Eren froze staring into the abyss of black. Its eyes seemed almost larger than a normal human’s, making the pits take up more of its face. They stood, facing off from one another, almost like they were having a silent conversation.

The demon’s head tilted to the side slowly, like a snake ready to lunge at its prey.

“Eren, please!” Levi didn’t know what he was pleading for. Maybe it was for the idiot to just stop standing there like a sitting duck, or maybe he was pleading for some higher force to help them. Levi didn’t know.

A feral grin spread along the demon’s face, curling up unnaturally. Levi saw it raise its hand, ready to attack once more.

“No, Eren!” his voice came out no louder than a panicked whisper.

But suddenly, a blinding light shot through the middle of the barn, making Eren and the demon go flying back from each other. Disoriented, Levi tried to adjust to the sudden waning brightness. He saw a shape move within. It looked… human?

All at once, the light seemed to shrink back to nothing, dowsing the barn in darkness once more. The demon let out a gurgly growl, quickly gaining its footing again. Without warning, it dashed at the new being.

The blonde (Levi noticed), person swiveled on her heel, the demon missing her by just a hair. A simple, silver blade fell from her sleeve, seemingly out of nowhere. She twirled the new weapon in her fingers with ease, so that he held onto the handle with the blade facing down.

This time, she attacked; moving faster than Levi had ever seen someone move. Catching the demon by surprise, she slashed at the thing, a line of bright light, similar to the one before, spilling out from the incision on the beast’s chest.

It hissed in pain, but didn’t have any time to do anything else, for the blonde jumped in the air at the demon, bringing it to the ground and sent the blade straight through the demon’s chest.

It let out a withering wail of pain. Light seemed to flicker from beneath its skin, illuminating the human’s skull, before it finally died out altogether.

Gracefully pulling the blade from the deceased demon’s chest, the blonde stranger stood, he blade disappearing once more. She ran a hand through her immaculate long blonde hair.

Eren staggered to his feet, the blast from the light really sent him flying that time. He eyed the female, ready to defend himself or Levi at any time.

“I am not a threat,” her voice chimed out. It was an even and pleasant sound, but that didn’t deter Eren from his suspicions.

Eren circled around to Levi, who was now sitting up to the best of his ability, the brunet never taking his eyes from the woman in the middle of the barn.

“What are you?” Eren finally asked. The woman seemed to be expecting this question, as she didn’t seem surprised. She was quiet before answering strongly.

“My name is Historia, and I am an angel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason why the barn was so familiar to Levi was because of a dream he had in chapter 11.
> 
> Kudos to you if you figured it out beforehand woohoo


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--  
> My tumblr: r-ebelcas.tumblr.com

“My name is Historia, and I am an angel.”

Eren stood there. An angel? She looked like an ordinary girl, none of the big, fluffy wings or bright halo accompanied her. She looked… normal. Eren must’ve been staring for a tad too long because she too looked down at herself, understanding what he was looking for.

“Ah, this,” she gestured towards herself, “this is just a temporary vessel.”

Eren narrowed his eyes. Angels possessed? There was a lot (and that was putting it lightly) that he didn’t know about angels, even though he was one technically, but he would’ve never guessed for the life of them that they took over someone’s body.

“You’re possessing someone?” Eren almost hissed at her. She seemed a little surprised at his near hostile tone for she faltered a bit before answering.

“Angels cannot take over a vessel unless the human gives consent. Unlike demons, we have some sense of courtesy.”

“Oh, well, isn’t that nice.” Eren said sarcastically.

“Never mind that for now,” she shook her head, “I come heading a warning, brother.” She took a step forward, causing Eren to step further between her and Levi. She stopped where she was, knowing that he wasn’t about to trust her. She looked down at Levi who was still on the floor, his face showing no emotion, but she could still feel the pain that radiated off of him. Her eyes flickered back to Eren.

“I can help him.” The only way that the other angel would believe her was if she was able to show him that she was on his side. “He’s in pain.”

Eren hesitated, finally peeling his eyes off of Historia in order to look down at Levi who sat next to his foot. The bottom of his jeans were a discolored black from his bleeding legs, he held a hand over the slash on his chest, trying to block out the stinging that still throbbed through his being. He wasn’t holding up too well.

The brunet glanced up at Historia, his eyes showing admittance. Historia took that as a go-ahead and cautiously approached the duo. Once she got close enough, or how close Eren would let her get, she kneeled down. She raised one hand and gently placed two fingers on Levi’s forehead. Nothing happened for a split second until Levi audibly winced and clenched his eyes shut. Just as quick, her hand was away from Levi, and she was already taking her respective steps back.

Eren kneeled down to Levi’s level when he looked in pain, not knowing what to do. But then it was gone, and a look of normalness graced itself along Levi’s features.

There was no more pain. The stinging throughout his body had ceased almost as if someone flipped off a switched. His legs no longer throbbed from bleeding. He had probably never felt this pain free before in his life.

Levi moved to stand, Eren grabbing his arm, helping him up. Levi stood, assessing his newly healed self, Eren doing the same. Eren looked to the raven, a question in his eyes. Levi simply nodded, affirming that he was okay.

“Do you trust me now?” Historia asked patiently, “I have limited time as it is, and the news I must tell you is important, Eren.”

Eren was silent. Levi however was trying to piece together how this angel knew where to find them. Were there angels watching over them, monitoring them and keeping watch at all times? Well, in that case, this just real awkward real fast.

“You are being hunted, Eren. You are in danger.”

Eren’s eyebrows scrunched together and he narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, in danger?”

“I mean that things have caught onto your trail and they are close to sniffing you out. Ever since your grace has been awoken once more you have turned into a beacon for all to see. If you do not obtain your grace once more, and soon, they will devour you.” Historia’s eyes were like steel, staring at Eren in a way that made the brunet want to cower away from the intensity of the deep blue orbs.

“How am I supposed to find my grace? Where is it?” Eren asked.

“Only you know that. Heaven has searched far and wide for it as well, but our findings have bared nothing.”

“Speaking of which, why did I fall in the first place?” She went silent, ignoring his question. “What did I even do? And was it really that bad that I was pushed from heaven in the first place?” Historia tensed.

“Oh, you’ve fallen in more ways than one, brother.”

Levi flinched.

“Take this warning to heart, Eren. Find your grace before they find you.” And she was gone. Almost as if time enveloped on itself, she blinked out of existence, leaving the two hunters startled.

Eren’s jaw clenched.

“Are they all that cryptic and annoying sounding?” he grumbled. Annoyance gnawed at his brain. Now he was being pressured by angels in person to find his grace. He rubbed his hands down his face, spinning on his heel and pacing.

Levi watched Eren as the angel got his thoughts together. Levi’s, however, were a jumbled mess, each one not falling into place with each other. Many things crossed through his mind. There were several things about angels he was unaware of (since he didn’t even believe they existed until Eren popped into his life), so he was just about as clueless as Eren was.

Historia had said that she was borrowing a “vessel”. So that meant that Angels didn’t look like humans, right? And what would that mean for Eren once he got his grace back? Would he still look and be like Eren, or would he too take on the stiff personality of an angel and have to possess someone in order for Levi to see him?

Eren finally stopped his pacing, looking to Levi. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Uhm, yeah, yeah,” he was yanked from his chaotic thoughts, “Never felt better, actually.” He wiped his hands on his jeans. He grimaced at the still blood soaked fabric. “Come on, let’s go. I can’t stand myself like this anymore.”

Eren nodded and followed the raven out of the barn to the chilly outside. They rounded the barn and their previous route back to the car, the duo now more on alert because of Historia’s warning.

-+-

The car ride was quiet, each of them too caught up in their thoughts to notice the silence. As soon as they got to the room, the first thing Levi did was make a beeline to the shower.

That brought a small smile to Eren’s lips as he watched the raven speedily waddle through the room. Levi looked up and saw the look Eren was giving him.

“Shut up. My jeans are sticking to my legs,” the man grumbled, making Eren grin wider. Levi pulled his shirt over his head and threw it at Eren’s face. Levi disappeared into the tiny bathroom, and not soon after, Eren could hear the shower turn on.

Eren walked over to the side of the bed and took a seat, setting Levi’s shirt next to him. They didn’t really have time to discuss a pressing issue due to their,,, activities, but the question still plagued his mind. It made anxiety curl in his gut, making his train of thought frazzled and not making a true coherent thought.

He must’ve been staring into space longer than he thought, because soon Levi walked out of the bathroom, hair damp with a new pair of jeans.  Levi unzipped his bag and pulled out a t-shirt to wear, pulling it over his head. The raven kept glancing at Eren who worried his thumb nail with his teeth.

“What’s up?” Levi asked, not looking up from refolding his clothes.

“Hmm? There’s nothing,” The brunet responded in a small voice.

“Yeah there is. Spill it.”

Eren was quiet for a few moments, staring at the floor by his feet before he raised his head and looked at Levi.

“How much time do you have left?” His voice was barely over a whisper.

“What do you mean?” Levi asked, though he knew damn well what Eren was talking about. It was only a matter of time before the subject got brought up again.

“You know what.” Eren’s voice took on a sudden authority. Levi turned his back on Eren without answering, instead walking the few paces to the dresser on the other side of the room where he had placed his small bag that held spare weaponry and ammo.

Eren stood up, facing the raven’s back. Levi ignored him and started fiddling with a hand gun and a box of bullets.

The very least that Levi could do was tell Eren when his soul was coming to be collected. If it didn’t belong to Levi anymore, then whoever had ownership over it would probably want it soon.

Eren was silent, staring a hole in the back of Levi’s head.

“It doesn’t matter,” Eren almost missed what he said due to the sudden quietness of his voice.

Eren scoffed and walked up to Levi. “Yeah, it kinda does.”

Levi’s fiddling started to become more forceful and he gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than for Eren to just drop it. He didn’t need Eren’s pity.

Sensing that Levi wasn’t going to answer him, Eren grabbed the shorter man’s shoulders and whirled him around so that he was facing him. Eren’s eyes were laser focused on Levi’s.

“How. Much. Time.” He spoke each word strongly. Levi didn’t meet Eren’s eyes, opting to stare at the wall behind the brunet instead. He saw the raven swallow roughly and his eye twitch. Eren could hear his heartbeat in his ears waiting for an answer.

“Less than a year. Roughly.”

Eren froze.

“How much less?” his voice coming out much more weaker now than before.

“Very much.” Was all that Levi said, finally peeling his eyes off of the wall and to Eren.

His hands slid off of Levi’s shoulders, exhaling shakily. He closed his eyes shook his head. This was why Levi didn’t want to tell Eren. He had made the mistake of letting the brunet get too closer. Ever since Isabel, he made walls around himself, not to just only protect him, but others as well. But somehow the boy knocked down those walls without problem and with a speed that left Levi questioning everything.

Before, all he had to care about was himself and that was that. But now he had Eren, the green-eyed brunet that somehow wormed his way into Levi’s affections, and now he was going to let down someone close to him _again_.

Levi stood still and silent as Eren wrapped his mind around the concept. He inhaled sharply through his nose and ran a hand through his hair. Red rimmed eyes looked back up at Levi’s blank ones.

Eren couldn’t form a complete thought to respond with. His brain was currently radio silent. It wasn’t the fact that Levi’s time was about up that made his eyes rim with water, but rather that the raven was looking at him with the same look he gave him when they first met: dead.

Levi had already accepted his fate, hell, he even willed it to happen at times. The fact that he was so ready to just throw in the towel made Eren’s chest fill with emotion.

It made him angry.

“So what, you’re just going to wait until you die and spend the rest of eternity in hell?” Eren almost-shouted. Levi responded with his continuing blank stare. “How can you just give up that easily?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Then enlighten me!” Eren now shouted. “Do you really think so little of yourself that you think you _deserve_ hell? Now I may have not known you for long, but I’ve known you long enough that I know that you are so much more than that, and the _last_ thing you deserve is to go out the way you’re so willing to.”

Levi shook his head slowly, closing his eyes. Eren didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t know of the terrible things that he was capable of. He didn’t know how truly tainted he was. And these words that he so carelessly spouted to Levi went against everything he grew up believing about himself. He was just telling lies. All Levi was, was a sharpened weapon that could be used at anyone’s dispense. Nothing else. That was what he was raised to be, and that was what he would end up die being. So these words that Eren spoke to him with was just fallacy. What did this messy-haired, lanky limbed, fiery _boy_ know anything about who Levi was.

Eren watched Levi, the raven’s head slowly drooping. And that was when he saw it. He saw the crack in the stone mask. And he saw it in the form of tears.

A single drop escaped, dragging along Levi’s cheek, and for the first time in a long time, he allowed himself to fall apart. His shoulders shuttered with contained hiccups, and he raised a hand to cover the bottom half of his face. Eren stood there, slightly shocked that he was witnessing _Levi_ cry, but he quickly shook himself free of the surprise before enveloping the shorter man in his arms, Levi leaning into his hold.

Levi’s arms curled tightly in front of himself, smooshed between him and Eren. His head was tucked underneath Eren’s chin, his damp cheeks leaving cool marks on the brunet’s shirt. Eren’s grip was solid, leaving Levi feeling safe for once in his life. Eren rocked slightly between his two feet as Levi cried silently into his chest. He could feel the broken inhales of breath Levi would take occasionally, and he felt his whole body tremble with pent up emotions finally pouring out.

Time was not kept as they stood like that. Eren drug his hand up and down Levi’s side and he turned his head so his cheek rested on the top of Levi’s head.

By now, Levi’s head pounded with the influx of crying. His face felt puffy and gross and he probably looked it as well. He let his eyes slide closed as he focused on the feeling of Eren’s hand dragging along his side and the rhythmic thumping of Eren’s heart through his chest.

Once Eren felt the tremors that filled Levi start to lessen, he loosened his grip a bit, much to Levi’s dismay. But Eren only let go a bit to lead them to one of the beds in the room. Eren led Levi onto it so that Eren was slightly resting upright on the back of the bed frame and Levi resting comfortably on top of him. The two curled bodies fit together like puzzle pieces, making it all too easy for the emotionally exhausted Levi to be lulled to sleep.

Eren watched as the raven slipped into unconsciousness, his features smoothing out. Eren didn’t ask questions or prod into why what he said made Levi react the way he did, because he knew that when Levi was ready, he’d tell him. But for now he decided to make a promise to Levi. If he wouldn’t find his grace for himself, than at least he could for Levi, and he would do everything in his otherworldly powers to save him.   


	19. 18

Not a chapter just an update. I'm giving up on this fic, it just annoys me at this point. If enough people want to know I'll make a chapter giving the rundown on how this story ends. 

Peace.


	20. The end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is how this atrocity ends

Okay, so essentially Eren & Levi go in a hunt in a small, unpopulated town in the middle of nowhere. During that, Eren has another vision of the tree and learns that his grace is actually in the tree, so the two set off towards that. When they arrive they find a couple of angels guarding the tree so Eren and Levi try to fight them. They're losing the fight horribly and that's when Eren extracts his grace from the tree and becomes an angel again, leveling the playing field. After the two angels retreat, Eren remembers why he fell in the first place and it had something to do with how he viewed humanity, similar to lucifer but not quite. And blah blah more emotional shit happens between them and they are about to head home. Conveniently, Levi's time is up and hell hounds come to collect his soul. Eren tries to fight off the hellhounds but Levi tells him to stop and to let them take him, but of course Eren doesn't listen. Levi dies anyway and is taken to hell. But now, because he's an angel, Eren himself goes to hell after him and saves Levi. They live happily ever after the end. 

And that's what you missed on glee


End file.
